Museworthy: Smile (Affirmative Action)

Museworthy: Smile (Affirmative Action)

I was a tooth on an ad
Anything bright
And white white white

For the audition they said
Show us what you can do
And I sat rooted to the spot
Looking as much like a tooth
As I could

There was a black woman there
She didn't get the part
But had the best smile
Of any of us

That was all she did and
They let her
Be the mouth

@authpoem = BY MTC CRONIN

MTC Cronin has had seven books of poetry published, the most recent being Bestseller (Vagabond Press, 2001) and My Lover's Back — 79 Love poems (UQP, 2002). After being employed for most of the 1990s in law, she has in recent years begun teaching literature and creative writing at secondary schools and universities. She is currently working on a PhD, Poetry and Law: Discourses of the Social Heart. Her books are available by contacting her at <margie_cronin@hotmail.com> or phone (02) 9550 2918.

From Green Left Weekly, May 15, 2002.

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From GLW issue 492