piano legs

when she was a young

girl

her mother told

her that she had piano legs,

and that

she was going to have a hard

time finding

a man to marry

with legs like that.

she's telling me

this as we lie in bed, after

making

love for the seventh

time in three

days.

i love your legs, i tell

her. especially

when you put on those

stiletto heels.

they're marvelous.

but she's crying. still hurt

by what her mother said,

fifty years ago.