The Stone Shoe Girl At The Restaurant

         

The Stone Shoe Girl At The Restaurant

what will it take to make me a princess
my eyes already turning blue,
my golden hair available at every drugstore
the tendons in my legs a bulge of strength
& fine entertainment
there is a breast transplant
available in the wings
if it is a case of bad blood, too far removed
I have a couple of leeches
on call in a sucking cage
I know how to campaign with apple cheeks
& I kiss rough & stay straight
I wave both hands with a lovely flick
and I blush at standing ovations
but stay cool on the throne of open lust
and the sun makes me sick
I am as pale as a portable potty
so what about this

sheer cut flyaway abandoned hair
brown eyed as mud & wallowing
in the throes of memorable money
that I can't remember
and so tired I can't climb this rock
or dance this stone shoe polka
or shake this heavy persona
long enough to pedicure
and wave my ten tootsies
right in the face of honey bunch complaints
right in the eye of some stupid king
that must have dug
my mother the maid
why else would I be sitting
in this boat of lost dogs
waiting to clear the table
when the dessert is daintied
in front of that fair girl
with her crown tossed casually
on her front seat
on the driver's side.

Reviews

[W.k.kortas]

It is, as Greg the Bard noted, the trouble with Cinderella--that there should be a formula to obtain that ethereal and indescribable something that seems to come so naturally to those who take it for granted (cf. "her crown tossed casually/on her front seat"). The piece has the requisite amount of Venablese--"pale as a portable potty", "this boat of lost dogs"-- and strikes the right tone, that of combined resignation and frustration as opposed to anger and bitterness. It is the combination of inventive language and instinctive feel for the lives of the common run of humanity that makes your work so uncommon.

[Greg the Bard]

Cendrella in reverse. I love the title too. "what will it take to make me a princess", the best opening line I've read in a long while. I love the way the images fall back on thenselves. You could not have planed it better. This flow a bit fast for my liken but the words make for it in advance. Great write.

[Toni Prehoda Kahler]

First of all, I love the title, the whole heavy idea of dancing a "stone shoe polka". How impossible...and I love the two personnas, imaginary beauty vs the real person. Such sarcasms for fake beauty are rather luscious to read. I love the light vs dark imagry. And why should she have a crown, why all the power? I am fascinated by a host of imagry I can't quite get, but enjoy reading. (what is this boat of lost dogs I wonder?)
Particularly wonderful line: "brown-eyed as mud, & wallowing/in the throes of memorable money"

[Emily B]

we all dream of being that girl. . . even if we do insist that we would never trade smart for pretty. . . sometimes we just can't help it, we would trade the brain power to be the blonde bombshell, at least for a minute or two . . .