Uses For Lipstick

July 2011

Uses For Lipstick

Seduction. A message on a mirror
or the name on a wooden grave-marker
in Ice Cold In Alex.
Triage
in Pearl Harbor,
marking those that would live
and those that will die.
Marlene Dietrich wore it smudged
in the mornings
so her nights might have seemed
more interesting.
James Cagney wore it too
because great actors know
how to use make-up,
and his films were just in black and white
it was another kind of seduction.
.