Or let’s go ahead and call them
panties
for extra cringe
They were cotton, I’m sure

maybe even Carter’s brand
If they could just stay little ’til their Carter’s wear out
No defense against an old man’s hand

I almost told my mother
(how many years later? maybe three)
right before we moved away

The old man and his old wife
she knew she knew she knew
were coming to visit us, to say goodbye

I stood in our downstairs bathroom
but then they were at the front door
and by then, it was long since over
I had already aged out, was no longer

what
he
wanted

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Today’s Poem a Day Chapbook Challenge prompt was to choose an article of clothing and make it the title.