Bridesmaid Dress

I don't want anything too long –
the ceremony is outside and I have sexy legs
that I still refuse to shave.

Bubble-hem dresses
are some weirdly inverted cupcake,
or a flattened cloud
hit by a semi, with a load of chickens.
I already have one in white
and black; I don't want a second.

I tried on a 1950's silk
labeled delicate, vertical seams
stretched out into small frays.
The cut, likened more for a woman
with four missing ribs and not
for an artist's over-developed back
but the color, grapefruit.

Five days before my flight, I went to David's Bridal.
It took three hours to create nada.
They didn't have the dress I wanted, not the size
or color necessary – truffle.
I wasn't going to spend $90 on alterations
for the one dress that could work,
a Marilyn halter of a thing
with boning not meant for a petite.

I hit the Sears and Macy's in Monroeville.
Truffle was apparently in vogue.
Prints aren't enough, too Sunday brunch
with the partner's parents.
I found a dress at T.J. Maxx,
chocolatey and feminine, goddess columned
but not too much. Clearance rack even,
retail $240 and bought for $30.

Two days later the wedding is canceled indefinitely.
You are deciding baby names regardless.
I still have my plane ticket, pack my bag.






Elizabeth Ashe is a visual artist, poet and travelholic, earning her MFA in Creative Writing from Chatham University and a second MFA in Multidisciplinary Art from Maryland Institute College of Art. She was as Associate Editor for Fourth River and founder/host of a Dinner Party & Reading Series in Pittsburgh. Her poetry has appeared in Sundress Press' “Best of the Net – 2012,” Flycatcher, Vagabondage Press, Glass: A Literary Journal, The Legendary, Battered Suitcase, Open Wide and Bird's Eye reView, among others. She lives in D.C.