Ecdysis

I never understood it —
the collective girl’s embarrassment 
around hand-me-down clothes. 
When Taylor dropped off Target bags
of the garments she grew out of 
I wanted to peel off my skin 
and put myself back together with what she had brought me 
as if I were a reptile 
whose shedding process was slightly faulty 
in that what came next was not a new me
but the chance to exist as a cousin.

NATALLI AMATO

Natalli Amato is the author of the poetry collections On a Windless Night (Ra Press, 2019) and Burning Barrel (Finishing Line Press, 2022). Her poetry has appeared in several anthologies and numerous literary publications, and she is also a poetry reader for Carve Magazine. Natalli currently writes for Rolling Stone and Taste of Country. She lives in Sackets Harbor, New York. www.natalliamato.com