Beautifying the Beasts

by Larry Chamberlin   Mar 9, 2012


When I was young and not yet schooled
my mom would make me accompany her
to her beauty shop appointments
to be engulfed by pungent acetone
erasure compounded with bleach, dye
and permanent gossip among the crones.

Mom was the only pretty one there
and they all picked on her for it with soothing
compliments told with sympathetic
clucks and knowing side glances
at each other's wire entangled hair-jobs
and I hated them all for every smiling jibe.

No wonder that I marveled at the tiny bugs
that crawled across their space-helmet driers
and over the edges, inside, to where straw
dry hair rooted into flaky scalps, reddened
by chemical assault, cratered nicely to
accommodation of these little travelers
for the ride to their new homes.

Never a word of warning did I utter
at these monsters of the salon who
dared attack my mother with kind words
just because she was better looking
than all of them combined.

Marooned in that shop of horrors
isolated from honest beloved hillside woods
with creatures truthful in fear or disdain;
stuck inside instead with wilted weeds
set in jars of petroleum jelly and peroxide
getting their lousy roots preserved.

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  • 12 years ago

    by PinkyPrincess

    Wow, this is a really interesting poem Larry. I love the title - it caught my eye!

    I love how you told this story, it started simple, and then got more and more intriguing.

    I love your descriptions, and how you portrayed this women... and you showed how even though they uttered kind words, their actual intentions were the opposite of that, and I like how you did that.

    "dared attack my mother with kind words
    just because she was better looking
    than all of them combined."
    >> I like this part - it actually made me laugh. I like how you wrote that they dared to attack your mother with kind words.. and the reader just knows straight out that their kind words had no meaning.

    I like how this all takes place in a salon, it was unexpected and different. I love how you described the evil women, and the bugs really played a big role and showing their bad side, it made me think of Medusa (I wonder if you may have thought about that?)

    Great job with this poem!

  • 12 years ago

    by Maple Tree

    Larry- I have read this piece several times... and I just love it... now I have the time to give it a comment It truly deserves.... this poem is refreshing... LOVE it!! My Mother is a retired beautician... when I was young, I have memories of sitting In the shop and smelling that yukky smell of perm solution... and back then.. the woman had their hair teased so high... at least a mile high... ha ha ha
    This poem was refreshing to read and your ending stanza made me giggle... thank you for taking me back to memory lane... very nice larry~

  • 12 years ago

    by ghosts in bloom

    This is fantastic! Your word choice was humorous, and endearing, and so on point. I found myself smiling and shaking my head while reading... What bittersweet nostalgia.

    I agree with Lioness: the title is perfect!

    A pleasure to read, as always.

  • 12 years ago

    by Lioness

    Larry I quite like this, a lot!

    For me reading this, I keep thinking about people who are two faced and back stabbers. Those who are fake as we say.

    They smile and be nice to your mother who in your eyes is the most beautiful woman there, but the smiles that you are not genuine.

    I love the description and how well you have written it. As I am reading it I am thinking about the times that I've gone to the hairdressers and remembering the smells that are there. I could smell the bleach and dye as I was reading the words. They are so vivid.

    Awesome write!

    x

    EDIT: I forgot to mention. I LOVE THE NAME

    Makes me think of the movie but the movie was less dark.

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