Glowing like a bride
she glides as though mounted
on a parade float, drawing
all eyes to her:
a bright blue topaz in miles of
poufed organza scooped
up to avoid a brush with McDonald’s floor,
the jambs & kickplates,
where dirty boots have shuffled
& food scraps lie in ambush
knowing that on this day she is
the center of the family, the world, the galaxy
& milking it because she can.
An entourage of boys attend
in white-white shirts,
pants & ties of the same topaz blue
stunned silly by her pulchritude,
unprepared for the Siren’s soundtrack
they hear now for the first time.
How small they look
under the gleam of her tiara.
Her father orders food
while her dress flounces this way, that way –
a blur of blue-green blue, sharp flicks
of skirt. She allows her subjects
to minister to her unspoken needs:
chicken tenders with ranch
McCafe shake
(vanilla in case of a spill)
World Famous Fries (no ketchup)
soft-baked cookies & a Coke.
The fibers of her gown
that she will wear just this once
seem lit from within,
enjoying their stage debut.
Luscious & ripe
today as maybe never before,
this size-zero queen enveloped in spun threads.
A gemstone, naturally occurring but rare;
from the earth & unearthly.
Cecille Marcato (she/her) is a poet and cartoonist living in Austin, Texas. Her work has appeared most recently in the South Florida Poetry Journal, LEON Literary Review, counterclaim review, and Husk. Two of her poems received honorable mention in the 2022 Soul-Making Keats Poetry Contest. In 2019 she was one of twenty finalists for the Tin House Still-Emerging Award and won the 2018 Bess Whitehead Scott Scribes Award. She is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.
