Touchpoint       for Melinda Burczycki

Let's bewitch panes of glass

Glazing storefront displays--

At twilight I stare

Into empty tableau,

See Isabelle, Dad's

Sister I'll never meet,

Working as window

Dresser at Sak's,

In Detroit, 1940.

She mounds floorboards

Of her stage

With gypsum snow drifts,

Fabricates an imploring 

Tree of Love; the branches

Curve like atria, snare

Silk-lingerie arabesques

With its briar.

Across from tree,

A female mannequin

Sits in boudoir chair,

Her head tilts to side,

Figure wears quilted robe,

It angulates her lithe 

Form, provides softness

And concealment;

Is she waiting for a lover,

Or has the lover gone?

Isabelle dusty with bogus snow,

Notices me observing her

And taps on front glass--

I'm holding my sketchbook

And pencils,

She scrutinizes my face,

The resemblance to her

Brother must be striking--

Soon Issy

Will have two heart attacks

And perish;

She watches me walk away

Down 2nd Avenue

Under an ombré sky,

Until we both disappear--

Laura Stickney 2025

Notes:

photograph of Isabelle Stickney's 

store front lingerie display, Sak's

Department store, Detroit, Michigan,

1940's