Winner of the 2008 New Hampshire High School Poetry Contest
Masquerade
by Hillary Casavant
She sits back in the plastic contours of the desk,
One slender leg slung over the other,
Pedicured toes shaking within the confines of her stiletto heel.
She pushes back a strand of neon blond
That threatens to lodge itself within the shimmer slicked across her lips,
Or the black sludge smeared across her lashes,
Or the lithe rainbow of her brows-
Pain plucked away into a perfect arc.
The bed-head boy in beaten converse shoes glances sidelong
At the pulsating toes, each nail buffed and carved
Into white crescent moons.
She catches his gaze and parts the pink confines of her pearls,
Tosses processed locks over one Caribbean-tanned shoulder,
And a smile peeks shyly through the plastic while
Her eyes flicker, uncertain, unsure,
A dim nightlight of life behind the mask.
