London Film Productions, 1936
“Stand there and look beautiful until I notice you.”
—a line from the film
If I could transform matter with a word or two,
Erasing bullets, blemishes & sprains,
You’d stand there & look beautiful until I noticed you.
No small efforts, how I craft a great hullaballoo;
Rid us of poverty, illness, acid rains,
Transforming matter with a word or two.
& you, it’s you I’d use my sorcery to woo
With jewels & silk. I’d utilize my brains,
While you stood there, beautiful, until I noticed you.
The Generals, I’d whisk them off to Timbuktu
(for peace) however much some President complains.
I’d do what matters with a word or two.
Yet, Mercy! Say you’d never love me, too?
I’d shout—past magic, though your will remains—
“Just stand there & look beautiful until I notice you!”
Doubt I’d ever want so much Alakazoo!
Truckloads of trouble as fervor wanes.
But, in the other matter, here’s a word or two:
Standing there, you’re beautiful. I do. I notice you.
Header photograph © Jason D. Ramsey.
Ace Boggess is author of three books of poetry, most recently, Ultra Deep Field (Brick Road, 2017), and a novel. His fourth poetry collection, I Have Lost the Art of Dreaming It So, is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press. His writing appears in River Styx, North Dakota Quarterly, cream city review, Notre Dame Review, and many other journals. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.
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