Love Shampoo

by Lesléa Newman

                                   

gleams in your palm

a dollop of opal moon

slathered, it lathers

you into a Roman goddess

a marvel of marble

sleek, slender, and smooth

all your worries whirling

and swirling down the drain

refreshed and dressed

you seize the day     don’t

be surprised if you turn

heads as you saunter down the street

there has never been anyone

more lovely than you

* * * * *

“Love Shampoo” copyright ©2018 Lesléa Newman from Lovely (Headmistress Press, Sequim, WA). Here is a book trailer for Lovely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh27-KoGS84.

Lesléa Newman is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, children’s book writer and anthologist whose 70 books include the poetry collections, Still Life with Buddy, Nobody’s Mother, Signs of Love, and October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard (novel-in-verse) which received a Stonewall Honor from the American Library Association. Ms. Newman’s literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation; the Burning Bush Poetry Prize; and second place runner-up in the Solstice Literary Journal poetry competition. From 2008-2010 she served as the poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts. Currently she is a faculty member of Spalding University’s low-residency MFA in Writing program. A recent poetry collection, I Carry My Mother, received the 2016 Golden Crown Literary Society Poetry Award and was named a “Must-Read” title by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Her latest book is Lovely (Headmistress Press, Sequim, WA).