Victoria’s Secret

My world has become
a sepia and indigo montage

of gorgeous women in their underwear
always journaling.

I can’t tell you—well, I can, but won’t—
how much I’ve heard and read

about thongs and bikinis
and briefs and high-cuts and Rios.

And I’ve seen it all immortalized
in Gelly Roll colors

on the dark pages of memory books
that will last forever.

Businesswomen, scientists,
artists and others—all have felt

the imperative to analyze
and codify their thoughts

about front closures and back,
halters, racerbacks and two-straps.

*

Last week I drew a copy
of a sixteenth century fresco

by Pontormo of the Annunciation.
I used crayons

to copy the colors
of the Virgin Mary’s dress and veil.

Sixty-four crayons
make it possible to approximate

any hue, value and chroma.
Of course, the pigments and dyes

will fade in a few months,
but it was fun to draw and color.

And it’s fun to have the image around
while it lasts, knowing,

of course, that experts in Italy
are taking such good care

of the real fresco that it will last
another four hundred

and seventy-three years.
The Angel and the Virgin will last.


*

As I write this,
Joanne is sitting at her desk listening

to Steely Dan.
In a so-called ‘tapestry blue’ thong topped by

a matching seamless demi,
she’s transcribing conversation

onto the black, acid-free paper pages
of her journal.

I believe the pen is yellow.
I heard the conversation

when she first spoke it with Linda.
When Linda wears pantyhose

she wears her panties on top
because she likes the sensation

of the pantyhose seam
against her crotch. Joanne wears panties

under her pantyhose
because she finds the seam annoying.

The conversation lasted
almost half an hour. Joanne

has been writing
through all seven songs of the “Aja” CD.

The paper is archival.
So is the cool, Gelly Roll ink.

Four hundred and seventy-three years from now
the world will know

in considered, pretty detail
how our angels and virgins

and others felt about
their crotches and breasts, and the fabrics

that wrapped them.
Theology is man’s quest for a path to God.


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Detail of the real deal,
Pontormo's Annunciation