That
A word that buys its clothes online,
From stores like thredUp, Vintage-Mine.
It can repurpose. Time’s new crook,
It shows up, wearing Twiggy’s look.
Don’t cause a scene with “that” or whine,
Because it shows up, serpentine,
Like leggings made from vintage lace.
“That” always wins the pronoun race.
Kim Bridgford is the director of Poetry by the Sea and editor of Mezzo Cammin. The author of twelve books, she is the recipient of grants from the NEA, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and the Ucross Foundation.