Diane Webster

Keep Things Long Enough

Teenage girls at the mall
wear hip hugger jeans I could never keep up;
I had no hips,
and I didn’t want my body to show
between my shirt and pants.
Didn’t want anyone looking
at me like that.

But bell bottoms, wide belts
with studs and metal holes,
yes, I remember those.
I wore a leather belt with end fringes
dangling down my thigh
on my blue and white stripped pant leg
and my white blouse was full with puffy sleeves
as my long, straight blonde hair brushed my waist.
Dingo boots helped strut my stuff.

No platform shoes for me
to hobble like a foot-bound geisha.
A slave ring laid in my jewelry box
instead of in my nose or worse.
I committed to re-inking the peace sign
on my skin daily
with no thought of a tattoo.
Teenage girls at the mall
let me smile 1970’s memories.

Diane Webster's poetry has appeared in "El Portal," "North Dakota Quarterly," "New English Review" and other literary magazines. She had a micro-chap published by Origami Poetry Press in 2022, and one of her poems was nominated for Best of the Net.