Claudette’s a can-can girl high-kickin’ it
under the red windmill. She slide-glides her
fishnets with her pointed toe, up to a
Toulouse-Lautrec sky. A quick turn and a
bibbity-bop bow for the boys in the back row.
Betcha can-can. Betcha can’t. Betcha I can
can kiss that girl tonight. What a sight, her
ruffly skirt swirly-swishing to a ragtime tune.
She turns to toss ‘em a kiss and a shoulder
shimmy, before her chassez away off the
stage. N’allez pas vous! Don’t go, there’s
more! The applause roars for the Quadrille
encore.
her rouge rubbed away
dark alleyway
me too, mon amie
Shawn Aveningo-Sanders’ poetry has appeared in journals worldwide, including Calyx, OneArt, Quartet, About Place Journal, Timberline Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, and many others. Author of What She Was Wearing (2019), her manuscript, Pockets, was a finalist in the Concrete Wolf Chapbook Contest (2024) and is forthcoming from MoonPath Press in late 2025. Shawn is two-time Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. A proud mom and Nana, she shares the creative life with her husband in Oregon.
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