First Requiem:
Headmistress
The word itself:
proper is retired
An artifact that
is used many times
Like a portrait
above the fireplace
Or the daily,
permanent face she wears
It looks fresh
and young even though she’s old
There is youth
present in her hazel eyes
But day-to-day
she abhorred much boredom
She’s perfected
this look since her first day
The day that she
came to be known as the
New Headmistress
of West Manchester Prep
When sitting in
her office she has her
Hands help
upward, empty, waiting for them
To be filled
with something new and unknown
Their emptiness
suggest a revision
A cigarette and
a brandy snifter
Like a sculpture
sitting at her brown desk
Her youthful
eyes give the students no clue
To whether they
are in trouble or not
They ask themselves
what next? Then whatever
Because no
matter what they say she’s still
Though they look
youthful her eyes can turn cold
Giving even the
strongest person a
Chill that goes
down through the spine and outward
Throughout the
body creating Goosebumps
She keeps the
stern look on her face daily
From behind her
desk she is most life like
And continues to
be the Headmistress
But she has a
secret that no one knows
She is not the
person she is thought, but
Hung on the wall
for everyone to see
____________________________________________________________________
Early Elegy: Headmistress
The word itself: prim, retired, its artifact
her portrait above the fireplace, on her face
the boredom she abhorred, then perfected,
her hands held upward—their emptiness
a revision, cigarette and brandy snifter
painted, intolerably, out, to leave her this
lesser gesture: What next? or shrugged Whatever.
From the waist down she was never there.
No comments:
Post a Comment