Sunday, January 25, 2009

As Good as Gold!


AS GOOD AS GOLD!

As Good as Gold!
So it says on this poster!
Look closely!

It doesn't say what exactly.
It doesn't promise
To turn every girl into
A pretty Pierrette
Perched on a stool
Playing with a dolly!

A pretty Pierrette
Who, reading between the lines,
Will snaffle
A Pierot
Of unimaginable male
Pulchritude.

(Why else the
Flouncy skirt,
The pointed toes,
The oh so silky stockings?)

It leaves us to fill-in the spaces,
With girlish dreams.
It leaves us to deduce that
Somewhere in the picture,
There is 'the answer'.
It leaves us to glance idly
At the cigarettes lying close by.

They are in a yellow packet.
We think it 'as good as gold'.

They must be 'the answer'!
Hooray! We've found it!
Everlasting happiness!

I wonder if elderly ladies
Lying coughing
In hospitals world-wide,
Remember
Pierrette and her dolly.

I wonder if we, too,
Are reacting foolishly
To other, more sophisticated,
Lures,
That we do not even recognise.

Will we, too,
One day regret
The siren call
of
'As Good as Gold.'



10 comments:

Winifred said...

Advertisers have a lot to answer for.

Kat said...

You're so right.... Girlies shouldn't smoke even if it's as good as gold :))))

Sherri B. said...

I loved your clever take on this prompt...advertisers most definitely try to lure us in with false promises of gold. Wonderful poem!

Amity said...

What a misleading advertisement?

"Good as gold" as if to entice anyone of any age?

Well, a very good reminder that not all gold is good!

Thanks Brenda for sharing this!

gautami tripathy said...

Young girls do get lured. A pity...

words broken into tiny pieces

Tammie Lee said...

It is good to think for ourselves, to feel what is our truth. You talk about important things!

shraddha said...

very nicely said..

i love your work..

madeline d. murray said...

This certainly takes the sheen off the shine! Thanks for a great read.

Tumblewords: said...

Wonderful! We've been seduced by advertisers as long as we've had dreams, I think. Reminds me of the old snake-oil salesmen and the circus barkers. Excellent piece, as always, Brenda!

c said...

What a wonderful reminder that we shouldn't believe everything we see, and that we should observe very closely to make sure that what they are 'saying' matches what they are 'showing.' Gold is indeed, one of the oldest lures.