The Green Fairy
Not Kylie, CGI-flying above a celluloid Moulin Rouge
in impossible wings, impossibly sparkly.
Nor a Bohemian beauty, translucent in oils on a canvas,
inspiring/taunting the poverty-stricken artist.
Neither a vision in green, emerging genie-like,
from a bottle, intoxicated, intoxicating.
But a middle-aged woman with brittle hair,
caught in the contours of a wine glass –
her eyes as green as the absinthe,
and as knowing as the marketers who never,
not once,
portrayed the green fairy
as anything other than
young
slim
ravishing.
..
Teika Marija Smits is a writer, editor and mother-of-two. Her poetry and prose have been widely published, and her debut poetry pamphlet, Russian Doll, is to be published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in 2021. https://marijasmits.wordpress.com @MarijaSmits.
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