On the Occasion of the Inspiring Launch of Australian Bestselling Literary Salon Women of Letters at Joe’s Pub in New York City[1]
Lori is colorless
of dubious fame
like many colorless girls before her
Took a tired punchline
I fell in love with a convict
a noisy whingeing when colorful girls use it
but in her mouth
her pretty but mean girl mouth
it was grave! moving! amazing really!
according to the MC
also colorless in an asymmetrical dress
Paltrow hair, colorless
Jolie lips, colorless
Bette eyes, colorless that cut through Sasheer
the only colorful girl
She goes first because Nobody goes first
ahead of the colorless girls
her hair, her hotpants, her mouth
her vulnerability all colorful
Sasheer says being a broke artist in NY
was unromantic
was vulnerable
was filled with shame
selling not her craft,
(and she is crafty, you can tell)
but multiple eggs
anesthetized
harvested
between her legs, freshest caviar
always cheap when the fish in the colorless sea
is colorful
$8000
a fortune
when you are young gifted and black
but your ovaries are indentured
and they don’t gush over the ultrasound
Sasheer was merciful
she helped us to laugh along with her comic delivery
not hahaha laugh but damn what won’t they steal from us
you’re lucky they didn’t take your kidneys too Sissy
And then it’s Lorri
she actually looks at Sasheer
really looks at Sasheer
sitting the way colorful girls
are taught to sit
modest (but surely proud of her Letter to her Wake Up Call)
with her knees pressed tight together
so boys don’t look up up there
Lori says with a big man white voice
That was funny!
and she means hahahahahahahahahahaha
and they, everybody, hahahahahahahahaha at Sasheer
because it’s kinda funny when a colorful girl
is priced DISCOUNT rack
a non-story
when she, once full of color
is never exonerated
Lori tells us in that strange BMW voice
This – (MY STORY) – isn’t funny
and they stop hahahahahahahaha
and feel
and weep a little
and gasp
and empathize
after all she is so
unique
anomalistic
stoic
suffering what no colorless girl should ever experience
story that’s not just a story
but romantic and overwrought enough to make a great chick flick
Renee or even Cate
opposite
Joaquin or maybe Ryan
op-ed material
the Pipers, the Loris
our brightly Burning Beds
Chiseche Salome
[1] A celebration of a diverse range of strong female talent