SUPPLY CHAIN > POETRY
We had to dump them. Drain
the chaw, its slosh & thick drips
slicking the stained inside
of a repurposed plastic
pickle bucket. Sometimes peeled
labels appeared, their silvers
& reds floating among the back-
wash. The once-white bucket
awash in taffy-brown bottom
dregs, bloated foamy cigarette
filters, flecks of leftover tobacco
sprinkling the surface like stars.
Jessica Cory currently teaches in the English Studies Department at Western Carolina University. Prior to joining the ranks of higher education, she worked as a gas station clerk, a cocktail waitress, a picker for a large distribution center, an assembly line peon, and many other positions. These experiences and her working class upbringing in the hills of central and southeastern Ohio inspire both her writing and her love of unions.