poetry, summer 2012
1820s French Fashion
When the first giraffe went to France
fashion really extended itself
Women sat on the floors of their carriages
to accommodate their hairdos
held aloft with wire scaffolding
And hats were high in homage
to the elegant neck of the fine creature
who came from the South continent
on a ship rumored to have had a hole
cut through the deck to accommodate
her upright passage from Egypt.
She walked from Marseille to Paris
in forty-one days, wearing stylish boots
and a cape, to parade through throngs
of admirers, 30,000 people gathered
in Lyon to see her graceful amble.
The craze lasted only through her youth,
a few years of high hats and hair
of wallpaper and lampshades
and porcelain patterns spotted
like her skin and then she lived
the remainder of her eighteen French years
as part of the royal menagerie,
never saw another like herself again.
And if she were making her stroll today
would the paparazzi cause her to stumble
in her even taller boots and would
images of her loveliness show an even longer
airbrushed neck? Would we extend her
eyelashes and cap her teeth, leave her looking
to a sky void of leaves to preserve her
girlish figure in a landscape lacking companions?
Would we romanticize her peerlessness,
distorting that which we admire until
it can do nothing but admire us back? Sad consolation for the isolation it takes to be
a thing of beauty, so long ago removed
from home.
Kimberly Dark
is a writer, mother, performer and professor. She is the author of five award-winning solo performance scripts and her poetry and prose appear in a number of publications. For more than ten years, Kimberly has inspired audiences in fancy theatres, esteemed universities and fabulous festivals She tours widely in North America and Europe anywhere an audience loves a well-told story. The Evening Echo in Cork Ireland says "the balance between objectivity and intimate analysis certainly gives Dark an edge and has made her a force to be reckoned with on every level." The Salt Lake Tribune says "Dark doesn’t shy away from provocative, incendiary statements, but don’t expect a rant. Her shows, leavened with humor, are more likely to explore how small everyday moments can inform the arc of our lives." The High Plains Reader in Fargo ND says "Dark’s skill as a storyteller gets to your heart by exposing hers."