Lola Ridge: The Woman with Jewels

Lola Ridge

(1871-1941)

The Woman with Jewels

The woman with jewels sits in the café,
Spraying light like a fountain.
Diamonds glitter on her bulbous fingers
And on her arms, great as thighs,
Diamonds gush from her ear-lobes over the goitrous throat.
She is obesely beautiful.
Her eyes are full of bleared lights,
Like little pools of tar, spilled by a sailor in mad haste for shore …
And her mouth is scarlet and full–only a little crumpled–like a flower that has been pressed apart …

Why does she come alone to this obscure basement–
She who should have a litter and hand-maidens to support her on either side?

She ascends the stairway, and the waiters turn to look at her, spilling the soup.
The black satin dress is a little lifted, showing the dropsical legs in their silken fleshlings …
The mountainous breasts tremble …
There is an agitation in her gems,
That quiver incessantly, emitting trillions of fiery rays …

She erupts explosive breaths …
Every step is an adventure
From this …
The serpent’s tooth
Saved Cleopatra.

Lola Ridge poetry
kempis.nl poetry magazine

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