JASON GOLOS

Professional Cinderella: Disney World Employee Profile

She was ever kneeling, hunched
in a rodent pose, ever wrapped,
a ragkerchief about her face, forever
made up with soot
and the red blush of want
in her cheeks.

So she lit it up.
Police said she set
a burning book beneath
the curtains, fled and fell,
hit her head, woke
in a bath of flame.

Then her eyes were set
behind a mask of skin
like cracked clay
furrowed with burlap twine,
a ridged and rutted moon,
aloof from a lonely planet.

And that's how she came to us.
So we gave her the dress,
the glass slippers, the large head
with blonde tresses
and cup saucer eyes, sopping
with happy endings.

And now in the space between
the mask and the masquerade,
she floats in minuet moments,
chromatic waltz dreams, forever
on the cusp of the new day.