Conversation With Frida Kahlo, By MOLLY BENDALL
Who brought you up?
I drank milk from a dark woman’s nipple.
What are the colors of Coyoacan?
mauve, pecan, ochre, lime
Where is the brown nurse?
She’s eaten the earth, roots branch from
her limbs.
What’s that on your dresser?
A candied skull.
What shall I call you?
Tehuana, she wears lace hoods while her husband
has no shoes.
Where is your dress?
It hangs there, wounded.
Is this your self-portrait?
No, I’ve been miscarried.
Do you suffer?
The deer’s wounds bleed, but I am calm.
What do you want?
They ask for airplanes, they are given straw
wings.
From “After Estrangement” (Peregrine Smith Books: $9.95; 61 pp.). Born in Richmond, Virginia, Bendall trained and performed as a ballet dancer, and later received graduate degrees in English and creative writing from the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins. She currently teaches at USC. 1992 by Molly Bendall. Reprinted by permission of the author.
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