Lois Marie Harrod
Eve Enters the Smallest Bikini Contest
It's true, Eve doesn't have the muscle definition
of her modern sisters—what was she to use
for barbells? Bananas? But she thinks
there must be some men who still like their women
soft and double-chinned the way Rubens
loved her, the way Titian did her in,
that spread of thighs and heft of hip,
the way Dürer had her gazing gooey-eyed
into his own handsome face, Dürer like Adam,
always more about himself, those small breasts
he gave her from that slender rib,
not much to cover, tuffets of a twelve-year old,
but she has this going for her, she thinks,
she is the only one facing the judges,
without a navel to mar her bulge,
no omphalos, no belly button lint.
Bio
Lois Marie Harrod's 17th collection Woman is forthcoming from Blue Lyra in December 2019. Her Nightmares of the Minor Poet appeared in June 2016 from Five Oaks; her chapbook And She Took the Heart appeared in January 2016; Fragments from the Biography of Nemesis (Cherry Grove Press) and the chapbook How Marlene Mae Longs for Truth (Dancing Girl Press) appeared in 2013. A Dodge poet, she is published in literary journals and online ezines from American Poetry Review to Zone 3. She teaches at the Evergreen Forum in Princeton and at The College of New Jersey. Links to her online work www.loismarieharrod.org