Beauty Secrets, Revealed by the Queen in Snow White

By Natasha Sajé

Do for your neck what you do for your face.

Face your neck whatever the case. Pace yourself

for 35-55, a quick

and bumpy ride, gone in a sneeze. Avoid

petroleum; replace with olive oil.

Check bitterness at the door; be happy!

Do for yourself what you do for others,

the money guru says to sisters. Embrace

a stash and a place, Virginia wrote, 80

years ago. Don't be dopey or sleepy,

and don't buy all that's offered. Wake up!

Do for your future what you should have done

for your past. Don't be bashful: it's one thing

to have a neck, another to stick it out.

Go ahead and eat fruit fallen to the ground;

be wary of apples in other hands.

Know the party's over when the hostess

yawns, her jaw like folds of lace. Brace yourself

for 55-85, a long

and grumpy slide. Help, Doc! Imagine lots

of green and see it when your eyes

are closed. Don't see red, as in done for,

as in broke, as in give up the chase.

Do for your head what you do for your face.

Avoid asking questions of mirrors.

To check your own sad countenance each day

is a disgrace. If you hang on, cash can help.

Despite it, the Iron Lady's now just a trace

of the woman who said, There's no such thing

as society! It's our duty to look after ourselves.

A head of state. Debased.

Copyright Credit: Natasha Sajé, "Beauty Secrets, Revealed by the Queen in Snow White" from Vivarium. Copyright © 2014 by Natasha Sajé. Reprinted by permission of Tupelo Press.

Source: Vivarium (Tupelo Press, 2014)