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That Your Heart Longs For*
Bill Ratner

*lingerie marketing slogan

I clipped stacks of brassiere and panty ads
from the society pages
Maidenform Caprice Perma-Lift
faces titled back gazing up.

This one would be nice to me…
not this one no she wouldn’t care
I can tell. This one maybe
a soft look to her eyes.

Huntresses
in organza silk
find me injured
carry me to a clearing.

Miss Wisconsin shiny black pumps pleated white swim suit
hands resting on her sumptuous hips
her dark hair and soft breasts
reminding me of my mother

her mastectomy scar.
My stepmother found my collection
in my toy UPS semi-truck
(no one knew that corner of my closet).

I found your pictures.
I’ve decided not to tell your father.

—
Bill Ratner, author of the full-length poetry collection Fear of Fish (Alien Buddha Press) and the chapbook To Decorate a Casket (Finishing Line Press), is a Best of the Net Poetry Nominee (Lascaux Review). In addition, his work has appeared in Missouri Review (audio), Baltimore Review, Chiron Review and other journals. Bill is a 9-time winner of the Moth StorySLAM, a certified grief counselor, an officer in his union SAG-AFTRA, and earns his living as a voice actor.

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Have you read these poems:
The Morning After by Gary Harrison
Crossing Texas by Ellen Roberts Young

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