Wave to the Queen.(Poem)

 
WAVE TO THE QUEEN 
 
   The last woman in the world to ride side-saddle 
   smiled at me from the screen 
   at the Kinema in Kilbirnie 
   I stood 
   for the neat brown gelding and the woman 
   in the red coat and divided skirt 
   it's what we did. 
 
   Lofty mothers in frocks and hats and heels, 
   lippy and powder, a dab of Coty, 
   had stopped in the street to put their heads 
   together--Coronation?--Queen? 
   at the Kinema in Kilbirnie 
   golden coach! white horses! white maidens with 
   white flowers in their hair! 
   a girl with a velvet and ermine train turning into something rare. 
 
   The whole world as we knew it was watching her but now I know 
   she had a moment of solitude as she became the thing she had to be 
   the camera didn't look there was a break in transmission verboten 
   to see 
 
   the old man in the gold frock bowed and stepped backwards 
   he had touched her with the oil and her task had entered her 
 
   the organ thundered all stops out and boys, like my brother, 
   sang like angels with frills around their necks 
   they gave her heavy ...