FASHION Poem: Grandeur and Fashion, by Raaghavi Kalluri

Fashion

I am blinded by aristocratic glamor

one among the many lost in the
golden streaks of light bleeding across Parisian skies/Mademoiselles flitting across chiseled
walkways in swishing tulle/Spirited colors scintillating across freshly adorned silk

Tonight I am swept away by a prismatic trance
longing to be adorned in jewels and glimmering heels/and my tender locks sprinkled with fairy
dust/ I dream of emanating grace and beauty/
Instead of hoarding it like a voleuse

Yet I am sentenced to the role of a peasant
Defaced by cold mockery from the golden ones/The elite who were crowed and blessed by the
cherished goddess of beauty

They who are dazzling and eloquent in cotton, crepe, organza and muslin/Draped in scarves,
sunhats, and a plethora of baroque garments
I am at the mercy of dames and divas/Caressed by diminished glory/A wilting wallflower that
shall not glisten or glimmer/until the day ugly means beautiful/and poor means privileged