The Dressed Horseman Inc #2

For the first
Installment  
Ever in my life  
Time    
Was prostituting me    
Since    
I wasn’t doing my own    
Make up;    
My mother was    
Moving quickly    
And she was using    
Fashion Fair    
Of all brands;    
Heavy duty    
Coverage    
Serious.    
    
We had just gotten
Back from the
Beauty shop;    
(Some kind of
Puffy updo)    
Temporary    
Blond highlights    
Were then    
Sprayed    
    
(She never    
Did that one before)
    
After the fact    
As if…    
It was urgent;    
      
She arched    
My eyebrows,    
Eyeliner,    
Mascara,    
Eye shadow,    
Rouge,    
(They call it    
Blush now)    
Lipstick,    
Natural lip line;    
No worries there    
Drenched in    
Anais Anais    
(Polished my own nails    
At least),    
With 24k earrings    
And the matching bangle    
    
For an event    
Of Black privilege    
(Not all the models were Black though    
As expected, just GQ    
I don’t know)    
Ebony, Essence, Jet    
Magazine.    
Wearing    
A crisp white blouse,    
(She undid some buttons too)    
Black knee length    
Skirt;    
Split up the back    
Black
Seamed    
Stockings    
(Yes women wore    
Stockings or pantyhose    
Back then;    
Formal    
Anything else    
Would have    
Rendered you    
As less than a lady;    
Disgrace)    
And
Black leather pumps;
    
(My grandmother was like;    
That’s another story)  
    
You can never    
Go wrong    
With black and white    
(My Mother’s motto)    
And I was    
Ready to meet    
The woman    
I was going to be    
Working for    
That weekend.  
    
(Helping to prep    
Runway models    
For a show)
      
“Let’s go”    
      
(Get yo ass out there;    
That’s what I heard    
In mind)    
      
Sometimes you think    
People are trying to be    
Mean or harsh    
When in reality    
They are just    
Trying to tell you    
Something;    
Occasionally    
It’s out of love.    
*     *  *    
And we met;    
It felt like    
She had to    
Step down    
Off of her    
Manifesto    
To meet me    
      
(I didn’t know    
What the fuck was going on;    
(Heiling from the land    
Of Jordache;    
Nice to make    
Your acquaintance    
And my heart was pounding)    
      
She had to be    
6’0 ish    
Taller in heels, of course    
I wasn’t exactly short myself
But still    
Intimidating    
    
Some kind of    
Fur Coat    
That swayed    
When her    
Breast    
Started to walk    
Riding    
That
(*****)    
Out first    
Over diamond    
Earrings;    
Arms    
At the mercy    
Of a slick
Hair bun,    
High eyebrow    
Arches    
Turning me up    
Suspiciously-
    
And she was    
She was cussing me    
Out    
Behind    
Her retina;
    
Being introduced    
“This is your young lady    
(Making a situational    
Fuck of me again)    
And she’s
Going to see you    
Through    
The night’s    
Line up.”    
    
(My demeanor    
Was shifting:    
You ain’t the only force    
In this hall  
And you need    
My young, Black ass    
Look at it again;    
Other side-    
I been grown a long time)  
  
(I’m gonna    
Make you    
Swallow    
Your own sweet    
Utterings    
Bitch    
And it had    
Absolutely    
Nothing    
To do    
With attraction    
At that point;    
It was the principle)
      
Which made    
The overcast    
Seem much larger    
And even older    
Then she really was    
And    
Eventually    
The
Megawatt    
Canine;    
Cracked a smirk    
At what exactly    
I don’t know-    
I would loved to have known.
      
(She turned out to be darling but    
Personally, I wouldn’t have    
Left my 13-year-old    
Daughter back there;    
With all them women    
No ma’am    
The fill in time    
Back in that    
Dressing room    
Was something    
And that place was turning    
And that place was turning.    
      
Closing this chapter out, now
      
#modeling troupe #laying out her clothes #runway model #brooke #business card