Compassion Wears Protest
Peach Lipstick
by Jeannie E. Roberts
After the news, cut to
break, thirty seconds splash, flash
glamour, and she’s
back—posing in studio before focused
lens. She had an affinity
for fashion, its flair, artfulness,
though she was plagued by
its fleeting nature.
Acknowledging her doubts,
knowing the importance
of inner focus, she taught
self-development in tandem
with commercial modeling.
Besides turns, pivots, and poses,
she addressed internal
beauty, the parts that blossom,
effloresce with age. What
she didn’t or couldn’t prepare
her students for was the
stigma, the marks that wound
a woman who models or has
modeled, the blanket perceptions
that tarnish, diminish, and
alienate, the comments that cause
injury: she’s vain,
selfish, spoiled, stupid, a real phony.
Why would anyone want to be
her friend? She’s
not welcome
or invited. We don’t want
her sitting at our table or near
our husbands!
When did physical beauty
become a form of disability?
Why does elegance trigger
offense? How do we shift
Imagine a world where
comparisons didn’t exist,
where human beings had the
ability to look beyond physical
appearance, to put job
associations aside, had the decency
to practice kindness,
inclusion, and civility . . .
After the news, cut to
break, thirty seconds splash, flash
glamour, and she’s
back—much older now, settling into
her map of lines and
wrinkles, wearing protest peach-
colored lipstick, lifting her
voice for the next generation,
compassionately speaking
out for beautiful women,
hoping that they may live
without the burden of bias, labels,
and the insidiousness of
lookism.
* * * * *
Jeannie E. Roberts has
authored four poetry collections, including The Wingspan of Things (Dancing
Girl Press, 2017), Romp and Ceremony (Finishing Line Press,
2017), Beyond Bulrush (Lit Fest Press, 2015), and Nature
of it All (Finishing Line Press, 2013). She is also
the author and illustrator of Rhyme the Roost! A Collection of Poems
and Paintings for Children (forthcoming from Daffydowndilly Press, an
imprint of Kelsay Books, 2019) as well as Let's Make Faces!, a children's book dedicated to her son
(author-published, 2009). She is Poetry Editor of the online literary
magazine Halfway Down the Stairs and a member of the Wisconsin
Fellowship of Poets.
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