Modeling Oneself

Proper attention is our refuge now, our perch..
Charles Wright

I am flared enough
to fly --
ruffled in a white blouse,
pants pleated
with the speckled shimmer of silk.

You might say
Yves Saint Laurent
has freed
his passerine girl
and bid her to feed
off the sights of San Francisco.

But today
it is not about the bridge,
the wharf or watching
my figure become
a store reflection, a cafe shadow.

It's about looking
at where I stand,
the sidewalk a tablet
of indentations
where insects crawl,
seeds cluster, subsistence
fills the lost integrity
of stone.

There, I step
beyond concrete and feel
my confidence
chiseled out by rumors
and heartache.
The affair long over.
but I can't seem to spackle
the emptiness.

My hands slide further
into vast pockets;.
the left grasping a gold
cigarette lighter,

the right fingering slick
designer tags
I forget to snip, a noose
of black thread pressing
lightly against my thumb.
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The chic painting is by French Artist, Marie-France Riviere. More of her lovely work can be viewed her at her on-line gallery -- www.griviere.com/expo2000.