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When Father Knew Best
Monsignor Dugan called us into the hall
said, you saw a dirty movie
tell your mothers,
You must leave Girl Scouts
or St. Mary’s School. I love Girl Scouts,
I will never quit.
Father O’Brien, laughed,
“Fantasia, the birds and the bees?
Your mom invited me to dinner,
thank God, can’t stomach Dugan.”
“I hope your sister
will be home,
she looks like Audrey Hepburn.”
Are you in love with Sissy,
that’s a bigger sin than
the birds and bees.
“I watched Roman Holiday twice,
love the Vespa scene
when Hepburn holds Joe tight.”
“Your mom’s lasagna, the best,
see you at six,
wear your Girl Scout uniform,
do it for me.”
Baby’s First Protest: Uh-Oh
lala la oooo
Baby doesn’t speak
bullshit
Kids can’t be
Amazon-packed
Can’t believe
the Bible said…
Don’t let Sarah B. hide
behind ashen eyes
uhohuhohouhoh
Don’t let a child be grabbed
from mother’s breast
Don’t let the concrete crack.
You know don’t you? know
we will go under
Neruda said our first word
was born in the blood
After Seeing Toulouse-Lautrec’s Poster “Can Can”
The artist stood four feet tall, the poster measures six
a tour de force
In the foreground, La Goulue, the star of every
can-can show
Dances to the steady beat of a metronome
tick kick tock kick
La Goulue’s pink tutu lifts
Men oh là là!
In 19th century Pigalle, dance halls shock, tight lips buzz
like a swarm of bees
A whirlwind of flirtation, Le Trec’s poster lures viewers to shirk
humdrum lives
To reside in smoky, golden gaslight, but his palette
shifts
To a long black smudge at the back of the Moulin
Rouge
In tux and top hats, a murky line of men,
attached at the hip
Anonymous voyeurs wishing wanting, disappearing
into one
The smug man in the foreground stares at La Goulue’s
golden hair
He views all the enticing girls
mutters La Goulue’s name
Wishes he could gesture, carry her upstairs, does
not dare
Le Trec sketches his love, never mocks
or gaslights,
never slips, never says, “You deserve what you get
putain.”
Mare Leonard lives and works in the Hudson Valley, where she is an Associate of the Institute for Writing and Thinking and the MAT programs at Bard College. She has published four chapbooks of poetry and a new one, The Dark Inside My Hooded Coat, is available at Finishing Line Press. One of her poems, published in A Pickled Body, was recently nominated for a Pushcart.