Based on ‘The Millinery Shop’ by Edgar Degas.

Grace in the folds that she fixes-

dignified

modest…

and bold-

shifting her shift,

in the storeroom, she drifts

perfectly poised in the cold-

There’s a warmth to the textures she touches-

there’s a depth to the dip of her hand

when, in humming the beats widows spin from the streets

she’s moved by a gossamer band.

-Amy Struthers