[ Connie Post’s remarkable poem illuminates how our culture
programs us to grieve for soldiers but accept exploitation of young
women.] [[link removed]]
PORTSIDE CULTURE
HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTION OF LES MISERABLES
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Connie Post
January 15, 2021
Ovenbird Poetry
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_ Connie Post’s remarkable poem illuminates how our culture
programs us to grieve for soldiers but accept exploitation of young
women. _
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High School Production of Les Miserables
By Connie Post
Act I Scene 3 “Lovely Ladies”
I could tell the costume designer
was careful to dress the young girls
like old fashioned street hookers
who hid their money
where it belonged
no midriff
no fish nets
no shoes that broke their backs
each one pranced in
from stage left
each in a different shade of flawless red
sitting scantily upon the ancient props
but as the orchestra played
and their mouths opened
I could already tell the ones
who had been taken
those whose hips had been an altar
I could tell, those whose backs
had been pressed into the couch
with no stage crew looking on
only the fading lights
there was an ease to the
the way they arched their necks
dropped their gaze at the last minute
knew well the scripts of subservience
when the number was over
I folded my hands
hoping that each girl would
scamper away quietly
and discreetly change her clothes
I waited for the scenes of war to come
for someone to die on stage
so the audience could finally
grieve
Connie Post served as the first Poet Laureate of Livermore, California
. Her work has appeared in _Calyx, River Styx, Slipstream, Spoon
River Poetry Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review and Verse Daily. _Her
Awards include the Liakoura Award, and the Crab Creek Review Poetry
Award . Her first full length Book “Floodwater” won the Lyrebird
Award. Her second full length collection (also by Glass Lyre Press)
“Prime Meridian” was released in January 2020 and was a finalist
in the Best book Awards and the American Fiction Awards.
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