I’ve got $10.59 in my wallet,

and the dress cost $12.00.

I promised my little girl she’d have

shiny new dresses come Easter Sunday.

The unchristian thought of stealing it entered my mind.

 

But I would like to be able to visit this store in the future.

 

I never expected my life to end up like this.

Every day I pray for relief.

Goddamn it, nothing happens,

nothing good anyway.

The stuff that does happen:

            My husband leaves me and his daughter.

            Eviction.

            Trailer gets broken into.

             Little Miss and me getting our clothes from donations,

             The ladies greeting us with pity,

             Not Christian love.

Candles ‘N’ Things where I work pays me just enough

to keep us from being out on the street.

 

The dress is $12.00.

I made my little girl a promise.

The dress fell off the hanger:

                I looked around,

                Everyone was busy.

                I crumpled the dress in my hands,

                Stuffed it in my purse.

Come back and see us

was all I heard.

 

Tiffany Buck is a stay-at-home mom and writer, living in the foothills of Appalachia. Her work has appeared in Fried Chicken and Coffee, Silver Birch Press, San Pedro River Review and Poetry Breakfast. She is honored to have her poem appear in the inaugural issue of Rabble Lit. Follow her on Twitter @tiffanybuck29.

 

Header Image: Creative Commons, photo by Random Retail, modified.