Sass: Shirley Bassey:
Sassy — the adjective

takes her form
the noun, a

film set waiting
for the ultimate

crowd scene. They
mob her — hey

Big Spender. Diamonds
Are Forever. Moonraker.

Heavily
textual

flora hits the stage.
Sexual outcry,

abstract street
-battles. She

faces the music,
all camera angles

and peasant costumes —
but

as the last note blares
she's

here,
in the sub-basement

of a department store
with bruised

goods — toys
and kitchenware

(egos or the skin
of apples).

On apples. In
apples:

prepositions blur as
her tears stream.