Feel free to try it on
the saleswoman says dangling
the Maiden Form bra
size 27 AAA mid-store
might as well have been doing the can-can
on a spotlighted stage
my bra as the boa
she and my mother, conspirators
smile knowingly at all within earshot
I blend and freeze
I am a mannequin
I sweat in the dressing room
plan how I will tear off
my pink Felix shirt
dive into the item
carefully laid out before me
in one quick spurt
and she is there
her glasses inches
from my bony white torso
Everything fit? Size OK?
Do your bosoms fill the cups?
She doesn’t even know me
and she’s using the word bosom
the unspeakable word of which
I have none.
Sweat is dripping
from newly dark underarms
and suddenly I know I’ve arrived
in a foreign country
with no ticket home.
