PenWomanShip

The other her went swimming today
while she was driving home from Food Lion
with all the windows rolled down.
Idling at the red light on the Highway 61 bridge
with her impatient hand dangling outside,
she watched herself stumble down the grassy bank
to the edge of the blossoming river.
For a moment she imagined all the people in their cars
looking down at her monstrous thighs
and lily-white skin, but she let it go,
turning instead to her big toe and sticking it in.
Hesitation is death she thought
and tossed her lily body into the meandering waters.

She came up gasping and laughing,
then slid into an easy backstroke -
waving at herself up there on the Highway 61 bridge,
silently waiting for the light to change.