Jessie Carty

Hidden Treasure

From a yard sale I bought a jewelry box of pressed orangey wood
which had three small drawers on the right side and one long
plastic door on the left
stenciled with a white oval.

On the left I hung my necklaces.
In the top two drawers I stowed rings
and charms. But, the bottom drawer, was shorter.
Behind it I hid my meager money. The bills
earned from mowing a lawn, watching
a child, or skipping lunch
at school.

But he found it there, and in my shoe and somehow,
even in the last place I thought a father would go—
an underwear drawer.

CP

Jessie Carty's work has appeared in Margie, Weave and The Northville Review. She is the author of two chapbooks At the A & P Meridiem (Pudding House, 2009) and The Wait of Atom (Folded Word, 2009). Her first full length collection will be released in 2010. You can find her around the web but mostly here.