She entered
the party like a caped queen
her heels
lifting herself up to thinner air
almost to
where she wanted to be
she saw the
table spread with boutique finery
charcuterie
and artisanal cheeses and duck liver pate
red and
white and bubbling wine for every course
she approached
the gathering and saw on the far end
the
out-of-fashioned, the rough handed and wrong spoken
the servants
and migrants who picked the butter lettuce
on the near
end she saw well-labeled suits
handbags
with leather and metal clasps
that look of
confidence in the eyes of the highly educated
she saw one
chair near her with those of her kind
she sat and
mingled and sipped wine and laughed controllably
and knew
which fork to use for the appetizer
the host
came and thanked her for taking
the seat at
this end and assured her warm voiced
that
someday, she too, could join him at the other end
