Dress Her for Her Wedding, by Gail DiMaggio

Portrait of a Noblewoman, by Lavinia Fontana (Italy) 1580.

Dress Her for Her Wedding
​
Shroud the girl in velvet, thread her head
through the tiny neck hole, stiffen
the starched ruff. Circle her throat. Cinch
her breasts. Strap her waist. Turn her to the mirror
so she can see her own bridled perfection--
downcast eyes, kissable lips. Silence.
A cross hangs from her ruby-studded collar.
A little dog licks her hand.
 
Linked to her belt, a pine marten,
gutted, narrowed, shaped into a purse.
Its stiff paws and furred face, elaborated
in gold. Alive, the creature was rank
and feral. Those beaded eyes will not turn away
from the chain.

Gail DiMaggio

Gail DiMaggio lives and writes in Concord NH. Her work has appeared most recently in Salamander, Slipstream and the Tishman Review. In 2017, her book, Woman Prime, was chosen by Jericho Brown for the Permafrost Poetry Prize and was released in Feb. 2018 by Alaska University Press.