My mother was a 1950s beauty queen
I have a photo to prove it
She kneels atop a real live tortoise
beneath a palm
one hand placed delicately
on the languid creature shell
the other waving beside her baby doll smile.

Her smooth curvaceous beauty is unmistakable
the white one-piece a masterstroke
of retro hourglass sexy.
Peer pressure got the best
of this reluctant participant
in the Miss University of Florida contest…

and so she and her slow-but-sure friend
are forever as one
in this snapshot of eternity.

January, 2003
San Francisco