I. The Marys
Mary and Mary are having tea.
Mary is an exemplar of inner beauty:
her eyes are lopsided. She is gawky and ugly.
People play kiss-chase with her bloated hand
amid the draperies. She’s ashamed
of the skin. She is trying to hide.
Mary, however, is profane, and wears
her clouds and clouds of perfumed hair,
and people come and stare at her.
Each day she crawls to Mary on her knees.
But they enjoy their teas,
and the passers-by who point them out: ‘the Marys’.