I gloss through the pages of Modern Bride
Arubbernecker staring at the wreckage
Watching willowy ingenues gaze out fromthe rubble
Of this tragedy masked in pearls and lace
The end of the worldas it had always been
The start of something new and
Exciting, if itweren't so risky.
The faces of these women are lovely
The faces of theirpansies, the flower of choice for spring
Pop with purples, the color ofnobility
Flowers with shock appeal, like the sound of a gong.
I leafthrough the magazine
Finding her on page 36:
The woman I am, the woman whois me
Pretty, she works in advertising
And models on the weekends
Page36 is smiling a smile
That mirrors the nacreous white of her dress
Aphotograph that embodies the question burning in me
Ablaze and glowing, wheremy heart was
When I was still new to the game,
Working inadvertising.
Page 36 inquires, too
The question burning in the eyes behindthe eyes
Of this woman, who stands, elegant and lithe
A paragon forstarry-eyed brides to be
In pure white dress with a bias cut
And eyes thatask,
White: a symbol of chastity?
Or of surrender?