Messy Splendor; or, Splendor in the Weeds
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
Jacques Raverat said that Rupert Brooke clothed himself “in a dishevelled style that showed off his beauty very effectively”.
Jacques Raverat second from right
You’ve noticed for yourself that gorgeous ones
Don’t have to care about their clothes. They wear
Wotever since they know their beauty stuns
No matter what. A T-shirt, dirty pair
Of jeans, or un-ironed blouse will do. They throw
On anything they see along the floor
Or tossed on chair backs. Anything will show
That they are not like us. An opened door
(A closet) will reveal forgotten rags
And any item will suffice to make
The rest of us look blah who look like hags
And Harpo Marx, to make our egos shake.
Dishevelled stylishness is all they need.
Unfair esthetic gaps are pre-decreed.
~ Phillip Whidden