States of Poetry - Poems
States of Poetry 2016 - South Australia | 'Alterations to the little black dress' by Jelena Dinic
by Jelena Dinic •
A little pin-up
three fingers
above the knees.
Behind the curtain
a dress-up game –
pretty things come undone.
He chalks lines
on raw stitches.
I catwalk.
My body fits the timeless black.
'You can live in it, or die'
smile the lips full of needles.
Do I look a little dead
with black fabric
on bone-pale flesh?
Suddenly in the mirror
I see the last party.
This dress is me.
In the front row
button-eyes watch
a grand entrance into the hand-made hole.
Around a little black dress
the roots of the earth
grow matching belts.
Jelena Dinic