| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Department Store | | By Maxwell Bodenheim |
| | From “Sketches in Color”
THIS squinting, moon-faced man is measuring lavender silk | |
| For a muffled, little-eyed girl. | |
| (Only the counter lies between them, but they do not see each other.) | |
| |
| This waxen-lipped girl, whose eyes are like burning silk, | |
| Is selling a frilled white waist | 5 |
| To a sleepy-faced old woman in flaring clothes. | |
| (They are both secretly amused.) | |
| |
| And this middle-aged, iron-bodied woman is wrapping candy | |
| For a fat, delicate-faced man in black clothes. | |
| |
| Rarely do they peep above the low wall between them | 10 |
| To look upon each other. | | | | |
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