Single Woman Changing Sheets

Let me tell you the freedom

in making peace with frown lines
etched scar-deep into my forehead
in neglecting to shave my legs
in eschewing drugstore hair dye

in having no thoughts of
labiaplasty, ketogenic diets, Pilates

in allowing a body to simply be

as a small girl I feared the day
I would live alone with no one
to zip up my dresses
(a gadget exists for that now)

sometimes I still wish for a companion
to help me change the sheets

the right bedside is wedged against a wall;
I fling myself across the mattress, fabric gripped
in my fist, and pull the fitted corner snug

the bedding is not taut;
it bears wrinkles like my skin

but I am the one who must lie in it
and I deem it good enough

-M.Stone