Georgette Hamlett

Georgette Hamlett
 
Triple Goddess Bop
 
Maiden: baby doll dress in pink, lovely;
Persephone in Springtime, untouched, pure;
Taken soon by darkness, soon but not yet;
Age is merely a number, sweet sixteen;
A low-cut top, short skirt, apply some blush;
Give her time, the body will match the face.
 
What more can man require?
 
Matron: fresh out of school, pretty woman;
Hired on the spot, but what can they say;
Pretty face and a degree? Package deal;
Co-worker buys her a drink, a nice man;
Married a year later, pregnant the next;
Promised her job would be waiting, they lied;
Eight-hour labor, Eve screaming her pain;
Young mother and her daughter wrapped in pink.
 
What more can man require?
 
Crone: just over the hill, long past her prime;
Newly divorced, her child her second chance;
Persephone in youth, turned Demeter;
Sworn to protect her against the Winter;
Ten years old, and someone calls her ugly;
She buys the girl a makeup kit, her first.
 
What more can man require?
 
 
*Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim  
“Pretty Women” Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
 
 
 
Georgette Hamlett is a first-year student pursuing a B.A. in English at Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC. She’s lived in North Carolina all her life, but hopes to one day escape to New York. Some of her influences include the works of Anne Sexton, and her childhood inspirations Philip Pullman and J.K. Rowling. This is her first time being published in a literary journal.