The Eyebrow Episode

Deborah was a little girl
Who didn’t have a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead
No she had a monobrow
When people saw it, they went wow!
And secretly they thought it very horrid

Her sisters mocked, her sisters jeered
Until eventually, to escape their sneers
She asked her mum to begin to pluck
The hairs which to her forehead hugged

Her ma began this mammoth chore
She plucked and pulled until she wore
Herself completely out and feeling drained
Had barely the energy to explain

That the second brow would have to wait
She was all plucked out and it was getting late
Deborah begged and Deborah pleaded
Two eyebrows plucked was what she needed

But all in vain, she went to school next day
Her strange looking forehead on display
The children mocked, the children jeered
Ran off in fright whenever Deborah neared

When was that second eyebrow plucked?
So that Deborah no longer looked a schmuck
How much later did folk not have to avert their gaze
I’ve been told the answer: it was days

(Sydney, Australia - 2007)

Alessandra Liverani