Words That Burn

Movie Queens, by Geraldine Connolly (1947-)

The sisters cut them
from empty backdrops, propped them
one atop a horse in a riding suit,
one at lunch on a cruise ship
skimming a bay in California.

Clusters of dolls leaned
against cement blocks,
a garden of pale faces
above shimmering lilts of cloth
and color, foxfur stoles,
ornaments of pearl and sequin.

The girls believed in what they could
become, as they vanished
into gowns, cashmere,
leaving sweating bodies, dim houses,
for a cold dry paradise.
Never having to earn a thing,
they’d stand, as clothes fell
from the sky in a rage of beauty.