( a poem dealing with the Slyvia Plath of photography, Diane Arbus. Arbus was known for her portraits of marginal or eccentric characters. This poem concerns an exhibit of her work at New York University)

The "Debutante of 1938"

a cigarette

hangs languidly

from her clawed hand-

Her head tilted

in patrician amusement

her tortured eyelashes

flare out-

pricks of disdain.

 

Ozzie and Harriet

appear on the lawn

joined at the hip

blending into blandness

their smiles

hollow posturing for the

lense--

 

And there is the girl

eleven years old

so stiff

trapped in a crocheted

cocktail dress

a child

forced in a cage

of carnal contours.

 

The shutter

has long since clicked

and closed

the many doors.