Paper Dolls

by Marcella Benton

mint julep statues bulbous as cauliflower
stand guard over marble columns tipping wafer hats
at three paper dolls resting on the steps

worn corners grip their backs
as they watch asparagus drip from rusted truck beds in the street below

wafts of orange blossoms echo from the trees
and parsley sprigs line a walk way
where silly boys coo melon jokes

the dolls send their dresses off to dance like broken pepper grinders
saying ah those salad days

the skirts tipsy-toe through the sidewalk cracks
lit from behind by curious fireflies
stringing them in line like lanterns ripe for the hovering moths

Marcella Benton lives in Lakeland, Florida, with her husband and pets. She works as a legal assistant and as an artist for her husband’s screen printing company, Whatever Tees. She has been published in Breadcrumb Scabs and is pending publication in Ray’s Road Review. Read her previously published poem in Deep South here.