Bound Feet & Feathered - Mia Doi Todd

The safety behind bars and in motorcycle sidecars

Keeps me asleep all night, deep alright

So I’m not frightened by the dark

My ears tucked in my pillow hear not the wind blow

I’m a passenger, a prisoner

The will is not my own

And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare

I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me

The theater in nightclubs from Kabukicho to Las Vegas

Shine the brightest stages, keep the tightest cages

Swap the playbills for girls

Bound feet and feathered, high-heeled and hornd

They do the can-can to the salariman

Kowtowd and scorned

And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare

I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me

I hem my pants the appropriate length

So there’ll be less chance of me tripping in the street

Or of tracking mud from my soiled cuff on to my neighbor’s rug

Among other stuff, their pristine white sheets

I knock on their door, once one has gone to work

And I slip in, dip in to my neighbor’s wet purse

And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare

I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me

The safety behind bars and in motorcycle sidecars

Keeps me asleep all night, deep alright

So I’m not frightened by the dark

My ears tucked in my pillow hear not the wind blow

I’m a passenger, a prisoner

The will is not my own

And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare

I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me