Ghosts in Plumage

Ziegfeld Girl 'Rose Delores' - by Alfred Cheney Johnston, ca 1920;
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Ghosts with Plumage

With elegant, bedazzling chic

they sweep the stage in plumed mystique

each draped in glitter, sequins, pearls…

they are the ghosts of Follies girls.

Like birds of paradise, in hues

of plum, cerulean, chartreuse,

they captivate the dukes and earls…

they are the ghosts of Follies girls.

 

They’re statuesque; they’re full of grace;

‘though time’s moved on, there’s still a trace

of perfume, rouge and silken curls…

they are the ghosts of Follies girls.

At old show houses, you might chance

to catch the swirl of spectral dance.

Chorines' drift by in steps and twirls…

they are the ghosts of Follies girls.

With elegant, bedazzling chic…

they are the ghosts of Follies girls.

###

Notes: The form is Kyrielle Sonnet.  

The poem was prompted by the Thirty by Thirty Challenge theme of 'plum.'  

Going on from there, I searched for a plum (or even a plumage) quote to use as a possible epigraph, and found this: "I always loved fish for the colors and birds for the plumage.  In the same way, I loved those women of the cabaret.  They were birds of paradise," by Christien Louboutin.  I realized that his quote is really about true cabaret performers, so I didn't use it per se, but somehow, my mind made the leap to the Sondheim musical Follies, and hence Ghosts in Plumage.