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Sunday Afternoon (After C.D. Wright) By Grace Patt Biddle



I'm working coat check at a nightclub.

From where I stand, there is no light.


3 unshaven men wearing white stand

in front of my stand. The guard yells:


GO STRAIGHT, MAKE A LEFT, DOWN THE STEPS


The men wait. They are waiting for friends.

It is too hot for coats. One looks at me and licks his lips.


A prison looks like a college campus from afar.

My coat closet looks like a confessional up-close.


Curtains separate me from penitents. The music of God

(techno) eats ear drums, burrows into the brain, makes it quiet.


GO STRAIGHT, MAKE A LEFT, DOWN THE STEPS


Beat drops, slam shots, drop your coat.

3:35 pm. 6 more hours of the 9.


9-hour shift. Third of the week.

We wear all black in the nightlife.


GO STRAIGHT, MAKE A LEFT, DOWN THE STEPS


Like separate sides of a courtroom or a wedding

there are two sides to the party.


Buying or selling? Making or spending?

We’re dressed in all black so as not to be seen, so as shadows.


We yell:


GO STRAIGHT, MAKE A LEFT, DOWN THE STEPS


Offer a bump, yawing to the right

my crew takes me upstairs.


We take, take, ask for more, and take. I take

them back to middle-earth— coat check.


I take a customer, he doesn’t tip

doesn’t apologize, I anathematize.


In all black, we search his leather jacket and take

the gold watch, unmarked pills, note filled journal.


Night finally falls.


GO STRAIGHT, MAKE A LEFT, DOWN THE STEPS


Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury

the warp in the mirror is of our making.


ABOUT:


Grace Patt Biddle’s work has appeared in Snaggletooth Literary Arts Magazine and they are a recipient of the Farnsworth Poetry Prize by Bates College. Currently residing in New York City, she is a Poetry MFA candidate at Columbia University where she works as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate Poetry seminar. Follow @gracetimesthree on social media platforms.



EDITOR'S SONG PAIRING: mid march — long coats




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© 2022-PRESENT by dipity literary magazine

Dipity Literary Magazine aims to shine a light on a wide array of underrepresented voices from different parts of the world including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, creators with disabilities, and also those from Instagram, or aspiring poets. We accept unpublished poetry of all styles i.e. haikus, art, prose, spoken audio, and short fiction stories. Short stories are the exception of previously published ones.  Additionally, we spotlight discovered unique writing styles through a bonus shares section and musicians who are supportive of the poetry world.  Dipity leverages visual morph art,  photography, and experimental digital collage work in each issue. Dipity values human kindness, exposing heartfelt truths, and taking time to have fun in writing while pushing traditional boundaries. You must write what you truly feel and release every slippery banana peel in this dimension. 

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