Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry: My Hairy Legs

Edited and introduced by Wesley McNair, Maine Poet Laureate

Who knew that legs had their own personal wishes and longings? In today?s poem, Mariana Tupper of Yarmouth explains.

My Hairy Legs by Mariana S. Tupper

My hairy legs say No to sheer pantyhose
accompanied by stiff pumps and hard soles.
No to razors, depilatories and electrolysis.

They resent hours in the bathroom
yanking on fabric strips
and wiping up little hairs in the tub.

My hairy legs take a stand against propriety.

They say Yes to shorts, 
Yes please to stockings with crazy stripes.

My hairy legs are happy to wear pants,
and gowns on formal occasions,

though they long for the moment
when the party is over and they can kick up
their heels and feel the wind in their hair.

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Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Poem copyright © 2012 Mariana Tupper. Reprinted from Puckerbrush Review, by permission of Mariana Tupper. Questions about submitting to Take Heart may be directed to Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Special Consultant to the Maine Poet Laureate, at mainepoetlaureate@gmail.com or 207-228-8263. Take Heart: Poems from Maine, an anthology collecting the first two years of this column, is now available from Down East Books.