~*~
A Working Girl
At twelve expected to earn a living,
I apprenticed to a milliner.
Ribbons, tinsel, birds, feathers, flowers
sewn with stitches like bird seed.
Enough this stitch and prick
hour following dull hour.
I walked out of jobs selling vegetables
in the open market
waiting table, washing dishes.
One time making wreaths
I skipped out, jumped onto passing percherons
did handstands on their backs
holding their halters I did cartwheels.
I was a cat, I was a monkey
I thought too much, I was haunted, I was a devil, I was a boy
In need of work, I joined a circus
coached by Ernest Molier with judicious use of patience
and whip, in order to achieve greatness one must learn
to take hard knocks. I jumped through rings on horseback
swung on the trapeze until my fall.
Another job lost.
~*~