by Carol L. MacKay
Vendor Set Up Black altar tablecloth, hides the sin of corrugated boxes, backpacks, dolly beneath. It’s hot in here. Over-spread before the neighbour arrives with their empty fanny pack of glares. You’re over the line. So hot in here. The Adjerp display cubes from Jysk, pieces aren’t clicking, nails are shredding. Hey, bottom-feeder, we’re not done. Why’s it so hot in here? No, seventy-five cents will not take it. I don’t even have quarters. This isn’t a garage sale. Quit picking up things you think you can turn around, plop on your own table. Here, take my jacket. Fashion Doll Clique They take turns sending someone to Undress and dress the 1962 ponytail To tell you there’s a red stain across her leg That she’s got the beginning of green ear That she’s missing a hair plug One nail is paint-less That your brought lunch is crap That the dress you’ve worn to the teen dance is gross and that you’ll die a clone.
Carol MacKay’s poems have appeared in Prairie Journal, AlbertaViews and several anthologies including The Life of Pie Anthology (Garanis & Sundal, Eds.) Shy: An Anthology (UofA Press), Threshold: An Anthology of Contemporary Writing from Alberta. (UofA Press), Writing the Land: Alberta through Its Poets (House of Blue Skies) and the League of Canadian Poets visual poetry chapbook, Spectral Lines. Her poetry has been heard on CBC Edmonton and CKUA. She was awarded the Magazine Merit Award for Poetry by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) in 2020.
Capital City Press Anthology 