your indelible photo
Napowrimo #6: converse with images. Interrogate an image for your poem. Ask: Who or what in this picture could speak? What would they say? Why is this image meaningful to me? When I look at it, what am I remembering? How does this image make me feel? Which of my moods is easiest to find in it? Read Write Poem prompt here.
That poster hanging behind your Shirley Temple
permed hair, above your bed’s white headboard,
do you remember?
The aqua blue pool we kept swimming, splashing
& floating into?
Wrapped in terry towels, without a care,
nor a burden lighter than music &
breathing.
(Funny detail that stuck. Your dad’s mistress love
wiped off scrupulously the dust settling on
the leaves of the hall’s potted plant.)
My memory is bad. Trying to pin down a once young,
freshly bloomed movie star. I don’t suppose
as old as Elizabeth Taylor.
Clearly my math is also bad.
Was it Angie Dickinson a.k.a. “Police Woman”
or Jacklyn Smith a.k.a. “Charlie’s Angel”?
I know it can’t possibly be
Lynda Carter a.k.a. “Wonder Woman”.
She doesn’t appear in anything but that
all-American red-top with gold breast cups,
with blue-starry-hot-pants bathing suit.
Poster girl was distinctly wearing a blue plaid shirt,
top buttons undone, the shirt ends knotted
up, mid-riff & belly button showing.
Pretty sexy eighties fashion.
My bet is on Angie, but I can’t be certain.
That name stirs up something else.
Angie Baby, you’re a special lady
living in a world of make-believe…
That song had an edge, even if it sounds
a ballad – something about a secret lover’s
touch that kept her satisfied &
how she went insane & he went missing.
Yea, we listened a lot to Helen Reddy.
And I’ll never forget your sunny smile,
you looked happy & glowing,
owlish round-rimmed glasses,
a tank top & deep red corduroy pants.
We were eighteen & in love with
music, books & swimming.
Wide-eyed, stepping out,
serious, flaky & desirous.
