Jan Beatty’s new book, Jackknife: New and Selected Poems, will be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in Spring, 2017. Books include The Switching/Yard, Red Sugar, Boneshaker, and Mad River, winner of the 1994 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, all published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
I Knew I Wasn’t Poor
I knew I wasn’t poor, because I had a choice: buy tampons or birth control pills. I shoplifted. When I opened the oven door, splitting the closet-sized kitchen in half, my only plan was heat. The ice smooth on the inside of the windows, the no money to pay the bill. I knew I wasn’t …