As if constriction was our first allegiance
The ponytail lets the neck breathe chromatic elastics also double as bracelets
wrist stricture hand’s stringed vessels rising little hills such squeezing
we knew strings as ornament hay twine kite tail fishing line thread
as if constriction was our first allegiance we would reciprocate
different pressures okay, girls more ribbon rubber band wrapped braids then
scarves narrowing neck or belt our waist dumb experiment trimming ourselves
of breath that scarcity of air as if it mattered we become less
if invisible was the goal I, yes suck in my ribs tank top flimsy hosiery even
angular thin panti-liners my wares and belongings minimal yes it must
want for expansion hankering I am little kernel too corpulent
for the husk could distend, finally
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Tisha Nemeth-Loomis is completing an MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia College, Chicago. Her poems are published in Peralta Press, Plum Ruby Review, Rivers Edge (University of Texas, Edinburg), Pacific Review (San Diego State University), HazMat Review, and variously online. Her cultural and social criticism “Kafka, Corsets and Beautiful Scars” was awarded Best Arts and Entertainment article of 2005 by The Society of Professional Journalists, Cleveland Chapter. She teaches first-year composition at Columbia College and is coeditor at Columbia College’s literary journal, Court Green.
