A Woman Taking Off Her Shirt
Paul Hostovsky

does so with arms crossed
over her belly
like she’s hugging herself
and each hand takes hold
above the opposite hip
and off it comes in a fluid
motion like a fountain shooting up
and falling down in a great arc
the shirt rising up and the breasts
rising and falling and the hair
falling and finally the hands
falling to her sides with the shirt
in one hand inside-out

while the man
taking off his shirt
wrestles it off
grabs his own collar first
like he’s going to beat himself up
then dips his chin down like a fighter
into the dark well of the shirt
and climbs down in it
reaching back and grabbing a hold
and pulling it up over himself
and pulleying himself
down through it and out