Dress Up

Dress Up

she stood
with her whole foot
filling the tips
of her mother's
high heels

she stood
before the mirror
pink dressed and pouty
a little girl
wrapped
in grandma's pearls
stretched down
to her knees
and her momma's
rouge and lipstick
smeared
all over 
her face

as a little girl
playing dress up
was the escape
into an adult
from the little girl
she was afraid
being

now
as an old woman
her old swollen feet
filling
her mother's old heels
there's a similar game
of dress up
where her words
of love
empathy
and compassion
disguise
like the little girl
in mommy's earrings
and high heels
the gravitational force
of all planets
orbiting
around her
instead of her
orbiting
among them

a game of dress up
of all her shortcomings
and vices
prettied up
into virtues
the little girl
in her momma's makeup
still escaping
what she is
with a more refined version
of the very same
game
except now
her delusions
reflect
in the mirrors
of all of us
too