painting by Rubens Peale
The red roses cluck
From their hideaway on the mantel
A dozen chiding tongues
Eyeless but persistent.
Three slices of chiffon cake,
Feather-soft crumbs crushed in
A magpies’ sticky-fingered beak.
–
She stirs, a room over,
Admiring her roundness
In the hallway mirror.
Corset incorrigibly close,
Her ponderous breasts
Leap up, two albinos
Gripped in velvet.
mindlovemisery 