Secrets of the World | Kristy McCoy | Poetry Contest 3rd Place Winner - Spring 2025

There have always been men

who I write home to—as if they

were my father. Take Russ, my boss

at this one store, in this one town where I was

paid $5.25 an hour, struggling

to pay rent, to pay for happiness.

Work will set you free

in the breakroom,

where he poured his creamer in

before the coffee. It mixes itself,

he said. No need to dirty a spoon.

Such a profound

revelation, I thought, as he set the carafe

back into its cradle. All the secrets

of the world revealed in a single gesture.

And this is why I wrote him

after I shuffled up north to another

town, making cash tips in bars—looking for

a home in a boy or in his bed. Russ

wrote back once and said he was

impressed I made it all the way up

the east coast and back into

some place somewhere. Maybe even

myself. It was all I needed to let go.

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Kristy McCoy was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up an Army brat--among others who shared similar fates. She relocated to the US at 17 and has been trying to figure it out ever since. She is living her best life along Lake Erie in Northwester PA with her 11-year-old son and her partner of 17 years, who delivers the mail one house at a time.