“dark side of the rainbow” by Marianne Betterly

everyone loved her heels

they were sexy,

sparkled like the fourth of July

three inches of spike–

and the way she swayed her hips

when she showed them off

walking like a runway model

in skintight Armanis,

that kissed her curves,

made men into animals,

or clowns or dwarves–

one lost his heart

rumor had it she

found them on a homeless woman,

dead,

and pulled them off the corpse,

tried them on and

strutted into the night

a video of her went viral,

two minutes on youtube ending with clicked heels,

her trademark

like Michael’s moon walk

other rumors she never denied  —

she hated monkeys and men in uniforms

and was in a lawsuit with the dead girl’s sister,

a real witch,

who claimed the shoes were hers,

and demanded their return,

muttering murder

but Dorothy just said no I’m innocent

while she twirled her pigtails

like a Japanese Lolita,

flashing sparkling pumps and polished teeth

so when she left town in a hurry,

flying high as a balloon,

no one was surprised

that she skipped out

with the rubies

[author_info]When Marianne Betterly isn’t hip hop dancing, designing websites or traveling the world in search of the best cappuccino, she’s writing poetry. She has been published in “Hot Flashes,” “Hot Flashes 2: More Sexy Little Stories and Poems,” “The Legendary (Slam issue),” “The Green Silk Journal,””New Sun Rising”, “Turning a Train of Thought Upside Down: An Anthology of Women’s Poetry” and “The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal.” She has received poetry awards from the Dancing Poetry Festival and Writers Digest. She lives in Kensington, CA.[/author_info]