kerry rawlinson

On the theme of Envy

ENVY

Battledress:
blue-rich broads wear black
their handbag dogs wear Prada jackets
(their teeth are porcelain, their square nails glare
exclusive bitches style their hair)
day outfits cling for yoga sans sweat
by night they rustle Thai silk
-envy?

Battlegear:
their skin of boiled milk
they kiss moue-moue with lips that can’t wilt;
(while coffee-hued women from foreign wombs
clean inside their private rooms)
they pick up prurient Porsches as
proof of spousal devotion
-envy?

Battleplan:
cellulite lotion
anti age/ wrinkle/ slippage potion
(bodies gelled and smoothed and lightened and moussed
lifted, sucked-in, whittled and juiced)
priorities: facials, pedicures
from ethnic minorities
-envy?

Battlestrategy:
conserve history
lib with a small “l”, con a small “c”
(at boardrooms, clubrooms and the ivy league
mask all signs of bored fatigue)
and bid at silent auctions for “Good
Causes” so conscience is healed
-envy?

Battleground:
no leveling field
to nurture fertile respect or heal;
(but we know fuckall at best, with our third-
world eyes focused on absurd)
they effervesce in their neat bubbles
as the world turns upside-down
-envy?

they: cappuccino foam
we: coffee grounds.

Author Biography

Born and raised in Africa, kerry rawlinson has been a lifetime student of “the arts,” winning her first contest aged 8. Since emigrating to Canada almost four decades ago, necessity forced her outside Literature and Arts’ embrace. Now retired, every day gives her another hopeful opportunity to cajole/crowbar open its arms. Her first published art and poetry were accepted in a couple of issues of Prospective: A Journal of Speculation.

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