At the Cosmetic Counter
by Terri Kirby Erickson
You should have seen my mother
just before she stepped out the door
for work. She wore a crisp white
lab coat with silver buttons, the
letter “C” for Clinique pinned near
the lapel. Her long hair was like
a shadow on a field of snow as she
swept through the house, searching
for her purse and keys to the old
station wagon that never failed
to bring her home. We took it all
for granted, my brother and I, when
wiping Bronze Leaf lipstick from
our cheeks after she kissed us both
good-bye—assumed she would
always come back, that mothers
never age or die. We carried on
with our teenage lives while hour
after hour, she held other women’s
faces in her hands—each customer
walking out looking better than
when she walked in. It wasn’t just
the makeup, lotions, and creams,
but the gentleness with which they
were applied—how our mother, with
her flawless skin and Bronze Leaf
smile, made them feel so beautiful.
Published in the author’s collection Night Talks: New & Selected Poems (Press 53, © 2023).
PAINTING: The Mirror by Robert Lewis Reid (1910).
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: My late mother, Loretta White Kirby, a former model and ballet dancer, was the counter manager for Clinique Cosmetics at Hecht’s Department Store for years, which was the inspiration for this poem. She was also the most beautiful person I’ve ever known, inside and out. For decades, she used Jergen’s Lotion on her face and her only makeup was lipstick. She had no need for cosmetics, but enjoyed using them and helping other women feel and look their best. The glow of her innate kindness, however, was her greatest beauty “secret.” I love her so much and miss her every day.
PHOTO: The author (left) and her mother (Alexandria, Louisiana, 1981).
PHOTO: The author’s mother, Loretta White Kirby, during a ballet recital (Winston-Salem, North Carolina, early-mid-1950s).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Terri Kirby Erickson is the author of seven full-length collections of poetry, including A Sun Inside My Chest, winner of the International Book Award for Poetry, and her latest collection, Night Talks: New & Selected Poems, both published by Press 53. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspapers, including “American Life in Poetry,” Asheville Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, JAMA, Poetry Foundation, Poet’s Market, Sport Literate, storySouth, The SUN, The Writer’s Almanac, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Verse Daily, and many more. Among her numerous awards are the Board of Regents Annals of Internal Medicine 2023 Poetry Prize, Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, and a Nautilus Silver Book Award. Visit her at terrikirbyerickson.com.
Author photo by Kim Shouse Photography,
Clemmons, North Carolina (2023).
Silver Birch Press 
I love this so much!!
A lovely poem about a lovely woman. I never knew this about your mother.
There is so much love in your words. Your poem is beautiful, as is your love for you mother. But I must say that my favorite line doesn’t come from your poem: “The glow of her innate kindness, however, was her greatest beauty “secret.”
Beautiful. May God comfort you, dear poet.