Centuries of self-admiration tilted in the cheval glass. About leaving one's mark in history.

Vanities

assortment
of timeless seams
it seems; the upholsterer
sews the back of a handmade
loveseat for Ms. so and so

who remembers
her name is kept
secret; turn of the
century sofas, chests
and her vanities

marble top
affairs with
shock-resistant hickory
Ms. so and so hardly rests
she comes in the upholstery shop
the gossip never stops

"paddles are
made from hickory too"
she tells the upholsterer
who turns red as cedar

this century
blushes from punitive use
Ms. so and so gives her due
the upholsterer's gender pushes
her petticoat to the side, years
of seams coming loose

draped over
the back of a
handmade loveseat
across the street from
the church, tilted in the
cheval glass, Ms. so and so's
lover praying for an excuse,
Ms. so and so's vanities mounting
up

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, Celebrity firebrand lesbian novelist