budding beauty
by jayne jaudon ferrer

I catch you
trying on my bra.
Like a doe made immobile by
the glare of headlights,
you stand frozen in my stare
—a sight at once
lurid and adorable.
(A definite Kodak moment,
though I wouldn’t dare.)
Taking in
the tangled heap of lace
on the bed before you,
the tubes and compacts
splayed on the counter behind you,
and the pitiful picture of your sweet lips
smeared
with “Cinnamon Sin” and “Mango Mama,”
(You’re mixing colors? That’s great!)
by a hand whose pudgy contours
will still grip lollipops better than lipstick
for some years to come,
I suppress my smile
and give an apprizing nod.
“Good choice.
Beige doesn’t show through.”

by Jayne Jaudon Ferrer from Dancing with My Daughter
[ jaynejaudonferrer.com ]