Two Centos and Three Jane Poems

J Is for Judgment

a cento

Father came to-day Father wenthome to-day Father's tremendously tall

Father's always so just Fatherreally lets me do anything I like

Father gave me a splendid parasolwith a flowered border

Father knows nearly all languageseven Czech Father was in

a towering rage Father has anew tweed suit which becomes him

splendidly Father was awfully jollyand we pelted one another with pine-cones

In most things Father isjustice itself Father laughed Father laughed

heartily I was in such a temperand then Father said, "Come, come,

you little witch, cool your wrath"Father always calls me "Little Witch"

(I don't much like itwhen other people are there)

Father says that that is awfully sillyand no longer suitable Father won't let us

sit in the hall alone I can't think whyFather said, "Poor little witch

it's very lonely for you now"Father never cries

A beard suits Father and I can't imaginehim without Father says

I was born under a lucky starFather has been made Appeal Court Judge

I should have liked awfully to ask Fathera lot more but I did not dare

Besides the ring Father gave mea lovely black pearl necklace

Father also gave mea box of delicious sweets

It's not nice of Fatherto tease me about my diary I suppose

he never kept one himself Father lifted me right upinto the air as if I had still been

a little girl Father did not say muchbut I fancy he's very much annoyed

Father was shouting Father is stillfurious Father makes a great mistake

I rushed to Father and said: "Please Fatherdon't be so frightfully angry" I knocked

at Father's door and gave himthe promised kiss I threw my arms

round Father and promised himon my word of honour I don't like fibbing

to Father but I really had toFather laughed like anything at my "combinations"

I never could have believed that Father wouldbe just like anyone else Father is

quite unconcerned Father sayswe must wait and see

P Is for Pedestal

a cento

          I wore a white leotard in that part,               which is the most exposed                    that you can get, a white                         leotard and nothing                         else. And then there                         was the short, tight,                         fluffy, white tutu,                         enhancing everything                         and hiding nothing,                         the white flowered                         bikini top and bottom.                         He dressed me in                         white for twenty years.                         I realized that I could                         leave the stage only on                         the stage. The curtain                         rose again and again,                         and I was showered                         with white roses. He                         had so often sent me                         white roses. I stood in                    my white satin gown               on the center of the stage.          I also wore a pair of long white gloves.

Questions on Jane's Birthday

Is her ring finger really her weakest?Who put Barbie in the bathroom drawer?Is it true she remembers every one of her mother's insults?If so, are they relatively few?To whom is she praying when she prays to her children?Will she share with them the raspberries she's hidden?Is her inability to pretend a fault or a virtue?How long is forty-four years?

S Is for Shame

If a child needs a band-aid and his mother doesn't have oneJane has one. It is deep

in the zippered compartment of her purse, its wrapperworn as an old dollar.

Matches, bottle opener, tweezers, ibuprofen.Nail file, bug spray, chapstick, sunblock.

Jane never did buy the tool to breakher sinking car's window.

Whatever happened to her swiss army knifewith all its clever integrity?

Simone's dad is earlyfor Ballet pickup. Is this, he asks, a refugee camp

for mothers?

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