FINAL SALE ($245.94 Lord & Taylor)

I could have had the heavy fall of a dress
cut correctly, the sweater designed to mask
the ass. Loot blessed by the mannequin's
upturned hands. Who steals my purse
steals trash. The men's department end-times
more rapidly, but who cares. Women's coats
with their murderous trims and swings,
everlasting feather collars: on sale for a reason.
Can I steel myself to graft the insane
to the classic: shoulder pads, the cocktail
cut, the holy A-line. Wings sprung into being
and fading with the season. Outside, I finally find
the trashbirds feeding themselves in the dumpster,
sparrows and grackles, timeless sable and green.
Spent tags, plastic hangers cracked like ice.
Scattered fries, lice and oil. They drain that chance
till I can't say what steals my birds. My purse. My trash.





"FINAL SALE ($245.94 Lord & Taylor" from Receipt by Karen Leona Anderson (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2016). Copyright © 2016 by Karen Leona Anderson. Reprinted with permission from Milkweed Editions. www.milkweed.org