by Lisa Seidenberg
Tanks in fearsome formation
Slide up her southern flanks
As troops assemble
On her outlying appendages
While handheld missile launchers
take precisioned aim
At her twin ovaries
A soft but critical target
The containers of fragile munitions
When was a woman’s body not a battleground?
Balancing fertility
With freedom
Since time began
She withstands the exterior onslaught
To her interior
Again and again
Territories taken and retaken
A war that never ends
Lisa Seidenberg is a filmmaker and writer whose documentary and experimental film work are shown in intern film festivals and arts venues.