House of McQueen
Blush slash shocks callous London. Worth built his own house. Others consider cloth’s ripple, want a red flare to flaunt. Finery’s patterns indeed shift to threads, line draws down interred silhouette. But while we live awhile here pattern and line gather quiet that is anything but quiet. Each time, dream delights as if a small wing beats, and leaves dance under our transient skins.
Credit
Copyright © 2017 by Valerie Wallace. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 21, 2017, by the Academy of American Poets.
About this Poem
“‘House of McQueen’ is written as tribute to and is a persona poem of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, using the pattern of ‘At Briggflatts Meeting House’ by Basil Bunting, in Complete Poems (New Directions, 2003). Charles Worth (1835–1895) was the first designer to own his own fashion house and is widely thought of as the father of haute couture.”
—Valerie Wallace
Author
Valerie Wallace
Valerie Wallace is the author of House of McQueen (Four Way Books, 2018).
Date Published
12/21/2017