Marion Deutsche Cohen
Some Photos
(1) There goes Marion, eating again.
Marion always smiles when she eats.
She’s queen of the feast, her feast, doesn’t Marion know it’s other people’s feast too?
How come nobody else here is eating?
They’re all simply smiling, the way they were asked, they’re able to stop eating for
How come Marion isn’t?
(2) Here’s another typical Marion.
Not only that slightly-buck tooth but the other teeth
just not regular enough
and shining.
Or maybe it’s not the teeth, maybe it’s the hair
beginning too far up, too much forehead.
Or the square chin or too much cheek
high cheekbones, yes, as high as one could ask
but low, too, too much cheekbone
something too much.
(3) Why’s Marion got her hand out like that?
What’s she smoothing out?
What’s she pushing again?
What’s she pushing away?
(4) Ah now, that’s a Marion.
Cute, young, the way she always looks.
Hair just right, falling forward, covering enough of her cheek and forehead
aquiline nose truly aquiline
eyes somehow wide.
Marion in motion, the way she looks in the mirror
the way she looks in thrift stores
the way she looks doing a poetry reading.
There we go, that’s real Marion.
Every once in a while Marion becomes real.