poetry Poem Revised in a 12th Floor Hotel Room after Seeing a Man in the Building Across the Street Holding What Appears to be Binoculars
The baby sings in her high chair
at the banquet.
I know most people at this table,
but not everyone. The keynote speaker talks
about how to make beauty in today’s world. A woman
we met during cocktails whispers
that she wants a picture of the baby.
Ray would say no.
He thinks he can protect her, but I don’t.
Sure, I say. Go ahead.
The baby sings in her high chair.
An artist at our table doodles a sketch and gives it to me.
“Princess Callie,” reads the caption.
Thanks, I say.
This will go up on her wall.
A man approaches when the keynote is done.
Your daughter is beautiful.
I videotaped her while you ate.
Facebook keeps two copies
of each photograph ever posted on its site,
even if the poster deletes the original.
George Lucas owns the rights to all profits
made from Carrie Fisher’s girlish face.
This is how we’ve dealt with beauty in today’s world.
Camille Dungy has published four books of poetry. This poem will appear in her fifth collection, America, a Love Story, which will be published next year by Wesleyan University Press. She has also authored an essay collection, Guidebook to Relative Strangers, and edited Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry. She teaches at the University of Colorado.
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