Single Women

After the men left
and with them the pretension
of our modesty,

we roamed the house with blouses
buttoned up en route,
with or without bath towels

or underwear, wet with premenstrual
discharge, wiggled off
in the kitchen, fresh cotton

shimmied up the hips mid-
conversation, my mother noting
you got your hanging labia

from your grandmother,
just as from her I got my eyes:
two almonds: green and brown.