< 1
after Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #6
But who wouldn’t want to look that good
in mismatched bra and panties? She’s not
looking in the mirror she holds. Lying
on loose sheets, little rhetorical mouth
a little open. She’s waiting for her
husband to come home and pull the heavy
roasting pan from the high shelf, for
her kind and lonely neighbor, dissatisfied
with his manuscript, to gaze longingly
out the window where, of course, she
won’t see him looking. What I want
to know is how many steps between
pose and camera, between poem
and self. When did I decide to
hold the mirror, what had I seen
when I chose to face it away.
Lexi Pelle was the winner of the 2022 Jack McCarthy Book prize. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rattle, Ninth Letter, One Art, Sucarnochee Review, and Zenaida. Her debut book, Let Go With The Lights On, will be released in May. https://www.instagram.com/lexipellepoetry/