Susannah Stubbs: "Thrift store psalm"

Thrift store psalm

The racks are so full 
That you could pull a muscle
Trying to push the screeching hangers aside.
Parallel universes pressed together
Midlife crisis leather jackets
Windbreakers, a rainbow of shiny synthetics 
Made from dinosaur corpses in the 80s.
 
The back room is bloated with plastic bags
And each day people leave more behind
A gloved worker lifts the weight from their trunks,
Whispers a benediction as they leave.
 
Of course, some things are garbage.
Some things go far away
Some are shredded into cleaning rags
But by some miracle, a few mistakes get re-priced and
Recycled into absolution.
The vice principal’s old fuchsia skirt suit
Gets hemmed a few inches higher
For a drag queen’s Elle Woods costume.
 
I come here while my family goes to Sunday school
Wait in the humid parking lot for the doors to open
Next to a woman who will gather a bundle of jewelry
For the dragon’s lair in the back of her Cadillac.

I go into a dressing room 
I try on a handful of possible futures
Sometimes I come across a thing that once was mine--
I smile and move on.
 
I learned it at summer camp
From a Baptist with a dark goatee
(His name was Steve, I think)
He said Grace isn’t fair, and I agree
It’s chaotic, it’s queer, it’s confusing
It arrives uninvited and then
You're in love, eating ramen with angels, singing up mountains
A pair of ancient jeans appears in your perfect size and
Some stains don’t wash out
Some tears take a revolution to mend but
Maybe if enough people go to thrift stores and plant gardens
And enough people teach you you’re normal, even good--
Maybe the world will end a little later than it should.

---

Susannah Stubbs is a writer, musician and future English teacher currently working toward an M.Ed. at UALR in Little Rock, Arkansas. Susannah recently completed a YAV year with the Presbyterian Church (USA) in South Korea and is part of the Presbyterian Peace Network for Korea. She does graphic design work with the Cobb Institute and Open Horizons as well as co-editing Becomings. In her free time, you may find Susannah playing her cello or guitar, lurking around local thrift stores, attending concerts (pre-pandemic!) or visiting her family and her sweet German Shepherd in her hometown of Searcy.