by Jill Hemming
to be the only girl
at the 4-H sew-off
to not get a ribbonsince the lady
in green gingham
didn’t think
a wrap-around
floral print
flattered
eight-year-old curves
that you’d stood
wooden-stiff with
as all-wise eyes
of seamstress judges
frayed the edges
you’d tongue-bitingly
joined and piecedfor that moment
snatched
blue-satin glory
on that hot day
in a gawking-wide
auditorium.
Jill Hemming is a graduate student in English at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This poem won second place in the Inscape poetry contest.