The bag she lugs of bottles
and cans dug from ditches
and tugged from leaf matter
dog-ends and filth pushed
against the curb by fast traffic
is bigger than half her body
must be thick plastic
somehow it doesn’t break
It is see-through and some
bottles are capped and half-full
of juice or piss and every muscle
in her scrawny arms
works to lift the bag at least
ankle-high if it should catch
a twig in a moment\u2019s drag
like a knife to the gut
the whole day will spill out <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shane Murphy<\/strong> left an MFA program early to work at a small press. He now teaches Spanish and writes music and poetry. He lives in Poughkeepsie, NY, with his wife and two sons. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The bag she lugs of bottles and cans dug from ditchesand tugged from leaf matterdog-ends and filth pushed against the curb by fast trafficis bigger than half her bodymust be thick plastic somehow it doesn’t break It is see-through and some bottles are capped and half-fullof juice or piss and every muscle in her scrawny … <\/p>\n