I take my place before the antique table.
Carved grape leaves inlaid with gentian flower
Curl slyly round the edge.
Wood panel lifts revealing the mirror
Of mother’s precious Vanity,
Tilted to receive my waiting face,
Fairest of them all.
I bare my breasts only in dreams,
In the public room, the place of prying eyes,
I cover them again
With white cloth smooth as open palms.
I am years swollen
With pretense and smiles
To please the Prince.
Evenings of Loretta Young
Swirling through an open door,
Standing on the dining room buffet
In spike heels
To give the full effect.
I’ve served my term,
A thousand tubes of lipstick past,
Powder puffs, cold cream,
Eyeliners ground away on half closed lids.
Give back my life.
This time, I’ll make it real.
–Susan Schefflein
© Susan Schefflein
Published in Each In Her Own Way, 1994
2 comments:
Loretta Young was a beautiful actress who was popular in the 1950s and who also made her entrance on her TV series by very dramatically opening a door and swishing into the room.
Very evocative poem. There is a seductive, mesmerizing quality to your images, and I like the way you glide right through vanity, appearances, the sense of traditional roles being passed on through generations, into rejection of these roles and the powerful last two lines of liberation. Great poem!
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