Seam Allowance

The wool is scratchy,

stiff from a winter in a plastic bin.

I used to wear these to the office

when I thought the ladder had more rungs.

I pulled the waist together

and the metal button shrieked.

The shank dug into my thumb

until I thought the bone would give

before the fabric did.

The zipper is a silver mouth

gaping open,

showing its teeth.

It’s not that I’m bigger,

it’s that the clothes have shrunk

around the person I used to be.