Going Short Poem by gershon hepner

Women who are short are not
petite, though challenged by their height;
a lot of them are very hot,
especially when skirts are tight,
or midriffed jeans expose their navel
and highlight curves of glutei.
About their size I will not cavil!
A boycott of such booty I
reject because I like to feel
superior to women and
am threatened by the ones who are
so tall they make me feel unmanned
on streets, in ballrooms and a car.
In five feet and a few small inches
come perfect packages that steal
my heart just like the Christmas grinches
when days though short have sex appeal.

In the NYT, May 31,2006, Robin Rubin writes a letter:
I mourn the end of the petite department, but I would also like to see an end to the 'petite' euphemism.
At 5-foot-3,161 pounds of solid muscle, I am certainly not petite. What I am is short. And a size 0 doesn't cut it for me. In fact, the only women I've ever met who are that tiny tend to be about a foot taller than I am, and they are always complaining about how nothing in the stores is long enough.
Why can't the stores sell women's clothing the way they sell men's, in short, medium and long lengths, and with free alterations? .

Linda points out that Robin Rubin is not petite, but overweight.

Tomas De Faoite’s response was most amusing:

i once met a girl called shortina
which was long for short.
the ina was the name of her
father's army; the irish national
assholes. she had to carry it `round
on her name. shortina. o shortina
where is my ribena, your ribena
in there on the table, o shortina
will you climb up and get fetch it
see, i was smaller than shortina.
my name concert-tina. and we played
the irish national anthem all night.

5/31/06