Edna SVM, On Wearing Her First Bikini
Breasts are just breasts, you guys, like feet or ears,
a pair you’re born with—well, this pair appears
later, not all that useful till we need them,
when babies come along, and we can feed them.
Otherwise, they’re more like lottery tickets,
this one gets “flat,” that one gets “house of brick”—it’s
just like you, with parts that vary in size,
but out of sight where we can’t scrutinize.
We shouldn’t let it be the start of wars—
It’s out of our control, and out of yours,
I guess, a quick reaction you can’t stifle
when, on a beach, you’re greeted with an eyeful.
But size, just keep in mind while you are peeking,
is idle, biologically speaking.
Midge Goldberg was excited to be included in Light‘s first virtual reading series. She was the recipient of the Richard Wilbur Poetry Award for her book Snowman’s Code, as well as the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award. Her poems have appeared in Light, Measure, Appalachia, and on Garrison Keillor’s A Writer’s Almanac. Other books include Flume Ride (2006) and the children’s book My Best Ever Grandpa (2015). She is a longtime member of the Powow River Poets and has an M.F.A. from the University of New Hampshire. She lives in Chester, New Hampshire, with her family, two cats, and an ever-changing number of chickens.