I comb through the dress racks at the Goodwill on Van Ness and Mission, hoping for something for a job interview next week. A man hands me a vintage Armani skirt he found in the opposite aisle. “You can get away with this,” he says. “But I’m having a hell of a time finding size 12 heels.”

il fashionista
the noun is always
male

Author’s Note: The title is taken from Shakespeare’s Sonnet XX.

Lorraine A Padden

is an award-winning poet whose haiku appear regularly in notable journals and anthologies. Her work has garnered honors from Tricycle Magazine, The Haiku Society of America, and the Tokutomi International Haiku Competition, as well as multiple Touchstone Award nominations from The Haiku Foundation. Her haiku will be featured in the upcoming 2023 release of the highly acclaimed New Resonance Anthology that showcases emerging voices in English-language haiku. Her debut collection of haiku and related short forms, Upwelling, was published by Red Moon Press in 2022.

Author’s website: https://www.lorrainepadden.com/