Every girl’s still crazy
‘bout that sharp-dressed man,
and she can bat
her Electric-Blue-Boogaloo
-mascara-webbed eyes
with the best of them.
But she’s hiding behind
more than that AquaNet wall,
and measuring herself
in the eyes of one who wields only
the alphabet’s sharpest letters.
It’s Quadrille Monday over at dVerse, and I’m hosting. Come play!
Whimsygizmo's Blog 
Your quadrille took me back to 1987, when I was the outrageous mother of a seven-year-old who was embarrassed when I picked her up from school: I had very short peroxide blonde hair, ‘mascara-webbed eyes’, and refused to wear flowery dresses like the other mums. She couldn’t understand that I was wearing my work clothes – I wasn’t a teacher then.
Thanks, Kim. I love the Rebel Mama in you!
ZZ Top Greatest Hits was one of the first CDs my mom got me. I was in third grade.
Love it!
In 1987 I was very far from such eyes, being a graduate student, surrounded by engineers, and I promise none of the female students dressed like that (but I still listened to ZZ top)
🙂
Aquanet and the 1990s go hand in hand. My daughters almost bankrupted us with hairspray! What fun! Happy Monday, De.
I should have bought stock in the company back then! 😉
Nice one!!!
much♡love
Thanks so much, Gillena. Once again this week, I can’t comment on your blog no matter what I do. As I commented in the quadrille post comments, I LOVED your scarfed trees, so much. What a visual!
I have the same problem with Gillenas blog.
I’m glad it’s not just me. I’ve literally tried everything.
i love this, De — any ’80s poem/reference would tickle me. ♡
I read this as if she’s measuring herself only in the eyes of Jesus. But it could of course be read in different ways.
Goodness, do I ever wish that was the case. But this poem was brought to you by the letter “Ex.”
Oh, that is so clever!!! I almost mentally went through the alphabet to see if the pointiest letters formed a word, but I have one of my headaches and gave up before I started.
Thanks. Praying for your beautiful head.
Didn’t mean for it to feel like a riddle; speaking more to the way he only used words that cut deep, in the end.
love zztop love your poem
Thanks, Rog.
Ah, the ZZ Top greats! Thanks for this poem that took me back to the ’80s, and thanks for hosting today.
My pleasure, Cris.
I liked the rhythm, but didn’t get the allusions in this one. What happened in 1987?
Me too Jane!
I was a senior in high school (87-88), and in a less-than-ideal relationship with the boy who would later become my ex husband. Even the way he said my name was sharp. We married in fall of 1990, and were divorced within the following year. I sometimes still hear his abusive voice inside my head, but I’ve now been blissfully happily married for 25 years and that angry voice gets quieter with each passing year.
Oh! I didn’t mean to be nosy, I thought the date had some international significance that had gone over my head! Other people mentioned ZZ Top who I’m ashamed to say I’ve heard of but that’s about all. Fun fact, in French, zizi is baby talk for a willy/mickey.
How interesting, De. I love your description of your style back then. I go back twenty more years to Bufton Hairdos and poodle skirts and folk music of the 1960s.
Thanks, Dwight.
Clever and colourful! 😀
You captured the essence of the 1980s so well in this poem.
Perfectly constructed poetic time machine, De. In some ways, dem wuz da days.
And thinks for the cool prompt
I meant “THANKS” for the prompt
I listened to ZZ Top play that song, Sharp Dressed Man, innumerable times. They were a Houston band and I used to park my motorcycle near the park tree they were singing under back in my “freedom days”, 1969 to 1973 .
Thank you for the prompt, I enjoyed writing for it.
..
Well, you have that song looping in my head…haha – Thanks for hosting
Oh my, 1987 I was about the age of my children now.
Thanks for the inspiration, taking me back to 1987 and for hosting the Quadrille this time!
A portal in time. Loved this!
Haha, I wasn’t born back then, but I have heard the 80’s was a good time.
Took me right back, De! Great fun to read.
Oh, to be 17 again…and not feeling like enough, never being or doing enough. There was lots to hide behind all that Aqua Net hair for sure.
I loved this and am so glad I lived through it…to come out on this side.
Well, now I want to break out my oldies collection! (Starts rummaging for the box in the basement)
Yes, it’s those sharp tongues that will scare us off no matter how sharply dressed they are! I like the nostalgic and reflective vibe in this one.
A terrific splash of nostalgia, De… This is really delightful.
~David
Love the allusion to the eighties. The second stanza seems a bit personal. Thanks for hosting, De.
A cultural/social trip, well played.