Claire Wahmanholm

Attirement of the Bride

 
                                                after Max Ernst

 
Cloaked and hooded, girding her loins
against some imminent event,
what figment does she hold aside
that she may stride unfettered down
the unseen aisle? What hellion,

weeping, ugly as sin, enjoins
her feet? What melody, enceinte
with latent meaning, lends this bride
composure in her open gown
and screens her from a million

misgivings? Who readies his plume?
What monstrous and adoring groom?