Chad Parenteau

Allegra First Poses Nude

Blue light selected.
Less a spring color,
but who will complain?
Photographer's arms
drop with her robe.

Contoured, folded,
an origami peep show
to grace back cover
of university poetry journal,
rewarding deep readers.

Her hands self-caress,
hidden fingers tapping,
marking each flash.
She eyes Allegra
on editor's folder,
birth certificate forged.

Boring surname reminds
Allegra how to prepare:
Remember eye-shadow,
oversized sweatshirt
or never leave a bedroom.

Studio staff search
for polite cover,
hats to remove.
She stands tiptoe
to excuse their towering.

Decorum restored
by draping shoulders,
dry-iced nape,
her new moniker takes
first steps barefoot.

---

City Prom

Yearbook beautiful bound
for Copley Square T stop.
Rental regal side by side
with work suits pressed
by compacting car.

Girls master dangers
of high heels
on Green Line road
to gold-plated ball room.

Princesses prep stilettos
for self defense,
huddle with boyfriends
who man-minnow against
each other into
larger targets.

Corsaged and wristwatched
arms hang from crosses
of railings, avoiding need
to nail hands for balance.

Immersed in roles
by Boylston Street bell,
class song they never voted on
recitable like a resume.

Gainlessly employed
pray for a pigeonstorm
to throw rich soil
on perfection
unrootable beyond tonight.

---

Chad Parenteau is the current host and organizer of the Stone Soup Poetry reading series in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work has been published in The Scrambler, Popt Art and is forthcoming in Ibbetson Street and an anthology from Off The Park Press.

 

Tweet Pin It