Adele Evershed
Life Lines
Spading the garden to plant the seed potatoes
His afternoon in sprinkles of rain and dotted eyes
Wearing old boots and a black beret
Unjointed—lean—spittle-thickened—alone
In an inside pocket—his hurt—folded over and over
The door shut on the young man he was
He thought about how she laughed as he got the bottle
Telling her—It'll make you feel better—
Later she wanted her own measure so he got her a flask to hold it
At first it amused him—both getting at the same thing from different places
For better or worse, until death and so on
Much later she asked
—What difference did it make if you hold or carry something?
And insisted—not a thing. Nothing.
Yet as it turned out it was everything.
Walking down the hill toward the river another girl in the doorway—sagging
Her breath across the wind nudges him in the ribs
His breathing as sharp as the turn down the bank
She was almost out of sight but then she shouted
—You're not going?
It shocked him back
He sat down on the bank and the crust of him split
He could see the bell tower over the hill
And the tangled lining of his pockets cast flat on the water
—slowly going to pieces as the bell tolled. An echo of a different story
And nothing was the same as he remembered
His eyes colored by the melting snow as the sun came out
He rescued her flask from his pocket tipping it into the river
Earth to earth, water to water—an urstwhile blessing of sorts
His eyes glistened. Days like this stretched out ahead
Tomorrow like a favor—slapping him on the back and putting money in his pocket
Maybe it was nothing. Or maybe it would be everything.
Air Turbulence In Small Spaces
I've never been able to whistle, but on the radio, a father and daughter have made whistling their life's work. They are performing the Archer's theme, and they sound so happy. Their hero is Ronnie Ronalde, an artist who blew for Marilyn Monroe and the Queen. There's talk about shepherds and plowboys and music by Bach. Then the presenter plays the last bars of 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay' and says how sad it sounds because Otis Redding recorded it right before he died. But surely everyone knows that's not why it's painful. Suddenly they switch to whistling languages. They call it 'speaking without tongues.' I look over to tell you, "Wouldn't that be an excellent title for a Netflix dystopia limited series?" But, of course, you're not there.
Next, a man with a tambourine voice says, you can whistle with an accent and use whistling speech for poetry and seduction. I think about that Bacall line—put your lips together and blow. Finally, his voice like long sweetening, a different man gives different advice, "Spread your lips wide, smile." But I've forgotten how.
Apparently, pitch always depends on the opening of the lips, so I lick my lips, purse and there's a sound like grief. But it's probably only the wind, and since you've gone, there's nobody to hear me anyway.
Illusions Of A Starry Night
your brutal words balance on my arms in stacks of dirty plates
as I pencil trees in what Brock, the art instructor calls ‘Van Gogh style’
not a forest or a wood, not even a copse but a singular black hulk surrounded by a triangular fence—aloof and as far removed from the divine as a hotdog
the limbs wave in stabs and snatches—the spiky leaves spiraling cruelly
filling all the space making it difficult to breath
Brock looks over and smiles saying, ‘Your tree is fifty shades of grey’
of course he’s alluding to that badly edited bestseller—full of borderline abusive
your abuse is always beautifully polished—never in my face always just under my skin
my pencil snaps as I grimace at Brock—picking up a bright yellow oil pastel
I amaze myself and morph the leaves into stars that swirl in the darkness
dropping my arms the plates smithereen and become just an empty task for a woman with a broom
And as I pack my bag, somewhere in the divine I feel Van Gogh wink
Adele Evershed is an early years educator and writer. She was born in Wales and has lived in Hong Kong and Singapore before settling in Connecticut. Some of the places you can find her prose on line include Every Day Fiction, Free Flash Fiction, Ab Terra Flash Fiction Magazine and Grey Sparrow Journal. Her poetry has been published in High Shelf, bee house Journal, Tofu Ink Arts Press, The Fib Review, Sad Girls Club and Green Ink Poetry. Adele’s work has also appeared in a number of print anthologies.