Mercy: Rivet Girl Listen To—
       

Once, it was other music like a train
out of town. I was that girl. Next door,
it's aggrotech, dubstep, moombahton, power noise.
Grind and krump, Mercy learned to bump
on her front porch. She tells me she likes
              techno, drum and bass, trap, and acid trance.

She says she dreams in dayglo and of Tomorrowland,
but can't get a ticket. I hear her now:
Mom, please send me to Belgium and I swear ...

Mom breathes in a whoop; doesn't like Skrillex or Krewella,
wants to keep Rivet Girl at home.                    So would I.
Mom sits on their porch, not quite a glamour shot,
looking at the moon, head wreathed
from her Marlboro,
one hand to chest,
trying to breathe.

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Copyright © 2016 Laura McCullough All rights reserved
from Jersey Mercy
Black Lawrence Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission