the crop top quandary—dept. store edition

            standing ajar in the fluorescent light

of her dressing room      a twenty-something-

            year-old girl reached out her hand

as though to touch      me as I hurriedly passed by

            in the narrow hall w/ my arms full of clothes

            I paused & watched her back into her small

room as if to make      space for me to enter

            please she insisted as I looked around

for someone else      anyone else who could help

            I can’t get it off  by myself the culprit

a coral crop top      w/ an elastic waistband

            fit perfectly above her belly button

but too narrow to lift past      her shoulders

            she had a swimmer’s body & I was drowning

as I entered her room      which seemed to shrink

            to half  the size w/ both our bodies inside

I specialize in putting      clothes on I am a crewnecked

            connoisseur of  layers too shy to wear

a crop top      much less undress a girl

            bent over toward me w/ her arms lifted

above her head      waiting for me to do something

            helpful I was just a math major wondering

what the odds were      of this happening to me

            I used my fingers like clothespins to grip

& tug the shoulders      of her shirt she took

            my hands & guided them down

to her waist      said here & slowly raised her body

            as I tucked my fingertips under

the elastic band & pulled      our bodies close

            she was almost too tall for my reach

as she twisted herself      freed from the shirt I let go

            I looked away from her looked away

from the mirror that watched me      a twenty-something-

            year-old who undressed a girl for the first time