Coming Back
Joanna Catherine Scott
We were lovers once
consummated briefly
fearfully
on his part
Now he sits
across the restaurant table
darkly handsome still
but faded
like a sepia photograph
and somehow
smaller
I have come back
from a long way down
he says
and glancing once
across his shoulder
unbuttons his shirt
showing me
the scar
above his heart.
Joanna Catherine Scott is the author of the prizewinning
poetry collections Breakfast at the Shangri-la, Fainting at the Uffizi,
and Night Huntress; and the prizewinning chapbooks Birth Mother and Coming
Down from Bataan. Her website is www.joannacatherinescott.com.
She lives in Chapel Hill, NC. |
Who’s In Charge
Tom Davis
The other day I sat snuggled into my new leather Lazy Boy, sipping a
Bushmills while watching Fox News. The door burst open, and Polly barreled
in from a shopping spree, hugging an armload of pants, blouses, jackets,
and skirts with little white tags flapping furiously in the air.
While still fixated on the TV over my
shoulder, I asked the age-old question, “How much did all that cost?”
To which she gave the age-old reply,
“You don’t want to know.”
I should have let it be, but like all husbands, I just
couldn’t. “Yes, I do. What did that set us back?”
Ignoring the question, she tried to
divert my attention with the “What do you think” routine. “What do
you think about this blouse? Is it too light for the coat? Do you think
these pants go with this jacket?”
I turned away from the TV to face her.
“The blouse is too light, and the pants don’t match. How much?”
Ignoring my questions again, she switched
smoothly to the “What’s the difference?” ploy. “It doesn’t matter. I’m
probably going to take them all back anyway.”
“So it won’t hurt to tell me what you
paid for them. Right?” I could feel my face beginning to flush.
Undaunted, she immediately reverted
to the “Thrifty shopper” defense. “Not as much as at Ivey’s. I can tell
you that.” She smiled and raised her eyebrows.
“How much!” I fixed her with my “I really
mean it” stare, pushing out my bottom lip and narrowing my eyes.
Polly knew I meant business, so she
relented, “Okay, Mr. Scrooge, I saved $20.00 on these two blouses, $75.00
on the pants, $100.00 on this Navy blazer, and $110.00 on the plaid jacket.”
She turned and marched out of the room.
“That’s more like it,” I called out
as I turned back to watching the Fox News Channel. Hey, sometimes you just
gotta put your foot down, get tough, and show ‘em just who’s in charge.
Tom Davis’s publishing credits include Poets
Forum, The Carolina Runner, Triathlon Today, Georgia Athlete, The Fayetteville
Observers Saturday Extra, A Loving Voice Vol. I and II, and Special
Warfare. He’s authored a collection of short stories, The Life and
Times of Rip Jackson; a children’s coloring book, Pickaberry Pig;
a how to book on writing a ranger patrol order, The Patrol Order;
and an action adventure novel, The R-complex. Tom lives in Fayetteville,
NC. |
