How the finest lady
Ever to walk America’s face
Transitioned to the hereafter
Continues to be debated.
Some say heart attack.
Some say pneumonia.
Whichever the cause,
Bettie Page left this life December 11, 2008.
The owners of the big grey house
Off Interstate 5
Resurrected her
In paint, on vinyl siding–
In black panties
And nylons,
Bare chest covered
By steel gutter,
The sweet
Substance of dreams
Greets the highway drivers each day
And boy! Do they honk their greetings back!
The ever shocking
Divine joins Bettie Page
Along the house side in
Her garish make-up, rotund glory.
The Ring house doorbell
Security camera footage doesn’t lie.
Streams of oil paint douse the house
Camera lens like generous, gigantic gushers of gore.
Twice
Selected for harm.
Twice
Drenched in red.
Hooded vandals
Came in the night
With brass hosed canisters.
Did the devilish deed dirty and dashed.
Twice
Selected for harm.
Twice
Drenched in red.
Bettie and Divine
In their usual places,
Feminist role models
Look slaughtered.
Twice
Selected for harm.
Twice
Drenched in red.
“Some feminists”
Wanted a stop
Put to exploitation
Of women’s bodies.
Twice
Selected for harm.
Twice
Drenched in red.
But the cowardly act–
Red paint splashed over the grey house mural–
Says “COVER UP!”
The message of gender repression.
The opposite of liberty
Showed its teeth,
Black hoods and paint.
Disgrace to tolerant Seattle. Disgrace to feminism.
