The Undoing of Lace

Fragile from the start, a tendency
to weep with runs. Was it the zip

that caught thread whispering chantilly
or a chipped nail that scratched

some hidden itch? Seduction seeped
from flowerets like rain, formed mud

around bedroom slippers. The night lamp
sneers at elastic that dangles flaccidly

against a hip. I have had men in a struggle
against the unraveling web, trapped worse

than a black widow's mates. Every death
is mourned by fingers, stitches around wounds

of lingerie. More than once I've wished
for money back, Mum's old cotton hipsters.

copyright © 2006 arlene ang

Arlene Ang lives in a small town outside Venice, Italy. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Diagram, Forklift Ohio, FRiGG, The Pedestal, Poetry Ireland, Smiths Knoll and Tattoo Highway. She is the author of "The Desecration of Doves" (iUniverse, 2005). Website.