Lipstick your mouth, then open it.
Speak clearly.
Finish your words and leave spaces between them.
Be big-eyed and soft-lipped in pantyhose,
a powder-blue twinset, newsreader hair,
a beret, and a knitted scarf.
Wear a silver cross at your pushed-up cleavage
to promise him godly motherhood,
safe behind tall gates
in beautiful BMW McMansionville.
Pronounce your full-stops as ‘stops.’
Not ‘ellipses…’
Not ‘questions?’
Not questions.
First published in Australian Reader