UnfortunatelyLit 
Wonder Woman Gets Dressed
Comic books never show
the heroic tugging of blue panties
over hips, white stars expanding
where the belly has mellowed.
Getting dressed takes muscle,
when you’re crammed
in a phone booth or toilet.
Not that readers care to see
the drama of shapewear unfold.
They’d flip the cottony page
before their thoughts turned
to their own underpants,
the pinch of elastic pricking
the place that’s softest.
Alternative Facts
I was conceived on a bicycle,
two unclothed human forms
riding at midnight,
four limbs juggling for balance.
The heat was huge that summer.
Tomato plants reached green fingers
out of their cages, ready to sprout arms
and drag themselves away.
There was a crash: my parents,
the bike, a row of unripe tomatoes.
Seeds and spokes broke
across the roadside. Imagine these
two young people standing up,
brushing leaves from their knees,
restarting that naked bike ride,
pedals pumping. Watch them
sink into the dark
while I slip away with the truth.
Laura Shovan is a children’s author, educator, and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the Harriss Poetry Prize. Her poetry appears in journals and anthologies for children and adults. Laura has written several award-winning middle grade novels, including The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Takedown, and the Sydney Taylor Notable A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi. Laura is a longtime poet-in-the-schools in her home state, Maryland. Find her @laurashovan across social media.
Why we chose these pieces:
Wonder Woman – We enjoyed the way the author described the whole ordeal of getting dressed, the absurdity of Wonder Woman’s costume changes, and the nod to aging. The piece has poetic structure and phrases, yet it still feels like we’re chewing bubble gum while reading a comic.
Alternative Facts – We loved how the author manages to strike the right balance between humor and seriousness. The imagery and use of line breaks are strong, and the last line teases us with the mystery of the truth behind this origin story.
