A McDonald’s straw wrapper

Old french fries underneath my car seat

Three pieces of gum with the foil attached

Four Tic Tacs and one dryer sheet

The swim suit bottom my daughter had lost

When she was only a size 6 X

Four pencils

One pen

Two Lego men

A Tinker Toy and three K’NEX

Este Lauder Lipstick

Had melted real quick

Earthen Nude, Limited was the shade

Twenty dollars a pop, in a sweet little glop

Nothing left but the stain that it made

Nineteen Kleenex balls

Seven Tootsie Pop wraps

An Addidas sandal, navy blue

A Nike golf club

A parking lot stub

A dead wasp, no wait, make that two.

I’ve packed and unpacked
These clothes for the past
Three summers.

Dear Roger,
Do not judge me
With your non-speaking stare
And your pointy ears sprouting silver tufts.

Allow me to dream the dream of thinner summers
And well toned arms and a body
Worthy of bare midriff attire.

Dear Roger,
Do not judge me
With your unblinking gaze
While I pluck your white hair
From my black tank tops
And black linen skirts and
Black shorts and black belts and purses and
Everything else I have that is
Black, the most slenderizing color
Of all the colors that didn’t make it in to the rainbow.