The light is the inside
sheen of an oyster shell, sponged with talc and vapor, moisture from a bath. A pair of slippers are placed outside the rice-paper doors. She kneels at a low table in the room, her legs folded beneath her as she sits on a buckwheat pillow. Her hair is black with hints of red, the color of seaweed spread over rocks. Morning begins the ritual wheel of the body, the application of translucent skins. She practices pleasure: the pressure of three fingertips applying powder. Fingerprints of pollen some other hand will trace. The peach-dyed kimono patterned with maple leaves drifting across the silk, falls from right to left in a diagonal, revealing the nape of her neck and the curve of a shoulder like the slope of a hill set deep in snow in a country of huge white solemn birds. Her face appears in the mirror, a reflection in a winter pond, rising to meet itself. She dips a corner of her sleeve like a brush into water to wipe the mirror; she is about to paint herself. The eyes narrow in a moment of self-scrutiny. The mouth parts as if desiring to disturb the placid plum face; break the symmetry of silence. But the berry-stained lips, stenciled into the mask of beauty, do not speak. Two chrysanthemums touch in the middle of the lake and drift apart. In Cathy Song’s poem, Girl Powdering Her Neck, the speaker is a woman who is observing the portrait of a geisha. The speaker describes in their words what they assume is happening in the portrait and what the woman is thinking. The woman in the portrait is simply powdering her neck, but in the mind of the speaker she is preparing herself for a man that she has to entertain. The woman’s beauty is described as a “mask” and she appears to be in a world where she maintains her silence. The tone of the poem could lead the reader to the conclusion that the woman is submissive and silent because she seems compliant with her job as a geisha. On the other hand, the quiet application of the makeup or “mask” could represent a since of power and respect. By the woman accepting what she does for a living, she keeps her mouth shut and acts out her duties with dignity. It appears as if she wishes to keep the beauty that she sees in the mirror as if she is proud. So, the theme is that when a woman or person in general chooses beauty, they should be cautious of the possible negative outcomes. They should also be careful not to lose themselves in the quest of beauty to be socially accepted, when in reality they should just be happy with who they are as a person and the natural beauty that lives in us all.
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