Absence, Opera, Beans, Dreams

Sold in a suburban bridal shop,

Rigid in velvet, while the waitresses

Lounge at their ease in cottons from the Gap;

Whatever third-rate coach she studied with

Could not undo the mannerism that

Half-shuts her eyes and splays her lipsticked mouth,

The cartoon mincing of a marionette.

It's all just as it should be. For the crowd,

The sensual pampering and dignified

Consumption; in return she is allowed

To sing, gauche and ignored, beatified.