Ganesha in Blue (Jeans)

I don't know how many times since then I've said, I Guess I'll wear jeans, again.

To school?! My grandmother would screech. It became part of my vernacular.

A girl of 14 never forgets the first nice thing a boy says to her.
Matt D. told me,
as we passed for Silent Sustained Reading Class
that I looked good in blue jeans.

They were the expensive Guess, I remember,
with the zippers on the outsides of the ankles so rich kids didn't have to peg-huh?

My other grandmother bought them for me. I begged. She couldn't afford to say no to an only child.

The boy, Matt, was nervous and hesitated-more than once-even though I smiled nicely.

All 14-year-old women hate their bodies,
because of betrayal,
because they don't fit
anymore
anywhere
between
in.

Even now, blue jeans fit me to a T.
And I think he was right all along.

And I wonder
what would be the overall outcome, continual consequence, everlasting effect, chain reaction, spin-off-
if one brave honest boy told every shy unsure girl her genius was showing
and it fit her to a T,
that would be nice.




Image By Alanna_Kolette,_Miss_HIN_2009_midriff.jpg: Mark Sebastian from San Jose (Alanna_Kolette,_Miss_HIN_2009_midriff.jpg) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.