302 Readings

UGLY LADY

O, the puzzling wedding ring 
clinging to the finger of an actively 
unattractive woman … a comical kiss 
distorts her face. An unfilmable lust 

caresses her lumps, knocks her poorly 
chosen glasses off. That inscrutable husband 
tugs at this mossy sweater he bought her 
(which doesn’t compliment her mottled skin), 
and when its too-tight neck releases 
her chins, her goofy earrings
sway like tiny tree swings.
 
I cannot imagine the dreamy smile 
that splits her enormous face
 
as her husband sneaks his ring fingertip 
through her thin, dry lips to nuzzle 
her eager salamander tongue, his free hand 
slipping through her frayed hair 
to find that familiar flat spot 
on the back of her skull, 
which formed in her crib, back
when she was an ugly baby
made and fed 
by love.

O, love…




Posted 08/04/14
This poem questions the value of urging everyone to call everyone beautiful. Beauty, as an attribute, pales in comparison to loyalty, faithfulness, tenderness... Check out this essay, which explores this idea further: http://thoughtcatalog.com/chelsea-fagan/2012/09/not-everyone-is-beautiful-and-thats-okay/
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