34DD

This white halter top
this invisible bra
I feel comfortably lovely
in this scant piece of cotton
this backless bit of freedom
this strapless and skinful clothing escape

No straps to tie me in, and bind me down,
securing me tight in my pink and white crown:
cutting my sides, scratching my back,
helping me move more comfortably stacked.
But I don't want this or that.
Neither is free.

To be free from this burden,
I'd need to be free
of this burden of feminine pride -
so seldom of use
on this pre-maternal side of life.

And I don't want to be stacked,
I don't want to be racked
with the sections of women
so gruesomely hacked.

My feet hurt, my back hurts,
I can't see my ribs.
But I'd never consent
to being sliced like a chicken:
Two breasts? White meat, ma'am?

No thank you, I'd say.
I'll just bear my burden and be on my way.

Donia Lilly
july 2000