Fashion
Women tend to like to shop
for clothes. It’s fashion.
Something about women
and fashion. Women fancy
fashion. It starts when they are young-
Already at 8, Zoe walks the runway
of her double bed. Hips twisting
something thrusting, while she flirts
with me through smiling eyes. She didn’t
learn it from me. I didn’t go near runways.
unless I was stuck on an airplane
waiting to take off. Except when I
paraded dutifully into Synagogue
for our annual high holiday pilgrimage
in the yellow dress my grandmother
kindly knitted for me. Puke Yellow.
Yellow was not my color. And I don’t look
good in puke, but nobody seemed
to notice. I hoped. I hoped I could just distract
them with my smile. But it was a whole
lot of yellow to camouflage. And besides
I didn’t like dresses back then. But maybe
It was just the material. Knit dresses have
this way of hugging your body, that makes you
want to run for your life. Like Ilana in 5th
grade who kept telling me over and over and over
that I was her best friend, until I thought
I would puke. I shut my mouth tight.
I was wearing a sweater my grandmother
had knit for me and I knew better than
to puke all over it.
May 26, 2010
Lori,
ReplyDeleteTo me this is two poems, one about Zoe and one about you. I like them both a lot, but I'd separate them. Your puke yellow clingy dress deserves its own day. That image is terrific--as is the discomfort of wanting to hide it with a smile, (something I can certainly remember feeling, and still feel at times when my dress is all wrong) and the obligation to wear it out of love or duty to your grandmother. Family!
Zoe on the runway is also a wonderful image, one that reminds me of my daughters when they were young and I was trying to let them be free of feminine stereotypes. They apparently didn't want to be that kind of free.
Susan
Lori,
ReplyDeleteNice use of the word "puke". It's not a word I hear often. Maybe it's a word from just my childhood. Everyones? It seems to me this poem really gets going with "in the yellow dress my grandmother/kindly knitted for me. Puke Yellow." All the fashion stuff before it doesn't seem as strong or perhaps it is another poem.
I like the ideas behind the poem, but I just feel there are too many. I'm sorry I can't get a handle on it. At one point I think I'm listening to an adult, but then with the use of the word "puke" I'm thinking it has to be a kid.
Anyway, puke is a great word and I highly recommend you focus the poem with the voice that uses "puke" so you can use it often. :O)
Thank you for sharing this poem.
Hope this helps.
~Suze
I like the ebb and flow between the adult/child in this poem...and the thing with fashion is that it is forever revolving. Things I was wearing as a kid are back "in" today. From the first line, I didn't draw a breath until the last. I like this piece...it's quirky and cool.
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