Girls Ripen Fast

Girls Ripen Fast

I.
Two inches taken on each side
Two inches in the corset
Rachel pulls lace from my back

(A woman is not born) my divine ascension (A woman is
constructed)

white hands hold the chords like doves
tethered light

my vertebrae ascend

II.
A painting by Ingres
an arm disjointed
my body
the universe bent by the male gaze

III.
Voice of the director: (appreciatively) The women look lovely!
Yes

Voice of the editor: (Please choose a letter) a) apple b) pear
c)strawberry

A life, downsized
a life of bathing suits
and oceans teeming

IV.
A field in Dorset
Ellen says
the sky in south England is smaller
no billboards to tout Calvin Klein
my feet, through thick green marble blades
miles of earth, eloquent, female
earth is round and full
in the sky above Dorset
God has hips
Parted lips
no mascara

a feminine vibrato the echo of hair an empty church Girls

ripen fast coaxed and caught

Bone of my bone and flesh of my thought/I will multiply thy
sorrow.

If I am tarnished
If I bleed too much
If my body holds things that disgust you
May I wind myself in lace
Until something lovely finally ascends.