an american ode to macy’s — Poetry by Emma McCoy

 

Cut tags on the floor/ dusty clearance corner/ The first bra fitting/ pinching homecoming dress/ the vague headache/ behind my eyes/ Discount bags/ rectangle dish/ nesting/ with the lone pair of socks/ I can taste beige paint/ the way I pinch my skin/ in the fitting room/ My first sticky eyeshadow/ Cut newspaper coupons for the handbag/ smells like lemon leather cleaner/ Thursday morning like a tumbleweed/ drifting/ ghost town/ dust town/ I stand in the clearance corner/ cutting tags with prejudice

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Emma McCoy is a poet and essayist with love for the old stories. She is the assistant editor of Whale Road Review, co-editor of Driftwood, and poetry reader for the Minison Project. Her chapbook “In Case I Live Forever” is out with Alien Buddha Press, and she has poems published in places like Flat Ink, Paddler Press, and Jupiter Review. Catch her on Twitter: @poetrybyemma