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My mother was one of those
people who never descend

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at the stairs in the
morning without either rouge

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or lipstick on.

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The idea was that you always
had to be ready for the day.

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And then she was ready.

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She passed away a few years
ago, a couple of years ago.

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But I found a picture
of her in 1946,

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right before she got
married the next year.

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And she is with her
girlfriends, out on the town.

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This is right
after World War II.

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And this poem was for her.

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"Girls on the Town, 1946."

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You love a red lip.

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The dimples are extra
currency, though you take care

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to keep powder from caking
those charmed valleys.

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Mascara-- check.

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Blush?

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Oh, yes.

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And a hat is never wrong
except evenings in the clubs--

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there a deeper ruby
and smoldering eye

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will do the trick, with
tiny embellishments--

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a ribbon, or jewel,
perhaps a flower--

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if one is feeling
especially flirty or sad.

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Until Rosie fired up
her rivets, flaunting

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was a male prerogative.

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Now, you and your
girls have lacquered up

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and pinned on your
tail feathers,

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fit to sally forth and trample
each plopped heart quivering

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at the tips of your
patent-leather Mary Janes.

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This is the only
power you hold on to,

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ripped from the dreams
none of you believed

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are worth the telling.

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Instead of mumbling,
why not decorate?

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Even in dim light
how you glister,

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sloe-eyed, your smile in flames.

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