Mantilla

(mantilla: a silk or lace head scarf clipped to a comb on the back of a woman's head  so as to drape her shoulders and back. Traditionally worn by Spanish and Latin American women.)

Mantilla

                   Moe Seager

Isabel came to dinner
All in black and feline gray
Her Spanish accent thick and wet
A glass of wine, dark bordeaux
The color of her lips

Isabel came to dinner
She lit a pink cigarette
I watched the ashes fall
In a porcelain cup
I watched her brush her teeth
With a sweep of her tongue

Isabel came to dinner
Alone
She wandered through the room
Those chestnut eyes, slits half closed
Low fires burning, those eyes
Moonlight under water

Isabel came to dinner
She stayed late
Tossing our voices back and forth
We mixed our words
Uhm...in the key of G'
Tango in the sitting room

Isabel came to dinner
She rose in midnight leather boots
I expected a mantilla
She laughed in my face
Taunted, I whispered, shall we go?
Later, a candle burning
The sleeping rose