Our foremothers were grateful. For the corset. For the cincher. For the girdle. The bloomer. For the bustier. For the bra. For the panty and the drawstring waist.
For Goddamn Little Miss Elastic.
For silk. Chiffon. Gossamer and lace. The fishnet, the back-seam; the push-up; the strapless; the open-front. The halter.
Then man created the “stay-up” and with it, the depletion of the garter.
[SNAP !]
And now … what would our foremothers think of “the thong?”
The Spanx? The convertible bra?
We have come so far.
[Would they be proud, sitting on the porch in their rockers/ Peeling potatoes over the kitchen sink/ digging up rhubarbs or turnips on the farm; dusting the china-cabinet with a shmata; reading by the fire or the hearth
– would they even care? ]
They used to just be grateful for their health,
but now, we have it all
all at our fingertips
[and I don’t mean sewing]
We can wear pants; we can cut our hair. We can control our “cycles.” We can create our own children.
Strip it all !
Let the seam tear…
We have come so far
from giving in
from sucking in
Let it all hang out,
like a man.
(c) Umansky 2011
blog of poet, leah umansky 
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