Page 52 - Contrast1989
P. 52
CONTRAST 1989
Stage Directions
Frail pale voices whisper half-remembered lines
Second-grade feet noisily stir the dusty rosin
Parents applaud the dim-lit stage
Where children play adults in motley costumes
And I am Cinderella.
Mother's old and wrinkled smock
Now my stained and treasured apron
Covers my rich velvet dress,
Stiff and regal With white satin sash,
Hidden until the prince arrives.
I prance like a fairy,
A tiny graceless little fairy,
Tripping only occasionally on the silver-grey
tape
That guides forgetful feet
To the perilously high edge.
QUivering mouths rush off-key melodies
Or trip through unmatched verses
LeaVingmeasures of mUSicmocking
Long afternoons of practice
In the gradeschool auditOrium.
My prince rides in, stage-left,
His face stained With "big girl's makeup."
He carries my princess shoes-
Black patent leathers wrapped in shiny tinfoil,
Fa for a queen of seven years old.
On bended knee, he pushes them onto my feet.
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