ODE TO CHIYO

German Deep Underground poetess, who is a keen motorbiker.  This was inspired by a profile picture of her, helmetless, in black leather jacket but showing smooth stockinged legs. Published with her consent.

Some think us Amazons, armoured in leather,
Spout “Women and motorbikes don’t go together.”
While others assume that women bikers are ‘butch’,
Interest in opposite sex nil or not much,
That such interests are manifestly
A kink within our sexual identity.

I say, in the face of such blinkered mockings,
I keep smooth legs, am at home in silk stockings,
And the crash helmet that on the road I wear
Does not cramp the way I like to style my hair.
For I’m feminine enough to want my man see
That I am a woman, and bid him notice me.