​Gertude’s of South Orange, by Barbara Krasner

Before the Mirror, by Édouard Manet (France) 1876

​Gertude’s of South Orange
 
For my wedding, my mother visited her favourite
dress shop and chose a V-necked royal blue dress
with silver metallic threads and beads
running down the bodice like Debussy
water pearls. Even without a tiara
on her perfectly coiffed auburn hair,
my father guided his queen down
the red carpet of brick stairs
to the Cadillac. Her diamond
drop necklace, diamond earrings,
and diamond watch signaled her royalty.
 
She held her head high, straightened
her back and shoulders until
osteoporosis and widowhood took hold. 

Barbara Krasner

Barbara Krasner holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Ekphrastic Review, Nimrod, Michigan Quarterly Review, Paterson Literary Review, ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry, and other journals. She lives and teaches in New Jersey, and can be found at www.barbarakrasner.com.