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Putting it off… Once, I was a fashion plate. I dressed in incredible clothes that I designed and made myself. I’d stay up into the wee hours sewing complicated patterns with facings, buttons, zippers, lots of handwork, and they were amazing. Designer clothes. Beautiful work. When I got pregnant with twins, that shit stopped cold
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I never had a problem with my hair, but Mom was always messing with it. She never let me grow it long because “I couldn’t take care of it.” Truth was, she didn’t want to take care of it and said I was too lazy and inept to handle it, qualities I’ve fought off my
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IT’S DIFFERENT written by: Devonne Brown published by SpillWords, January 19, 2023 @athesaurus1 The quiet is different this morning.Its timbre has a breadth, a substanceI hadn’t noticed before.The quiet when the boys slept was full of their dreamsThis emptiness is hard. It supersedes noisefrom the TVthat deafens the background silence.It shatters then evaporates like it
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This Week The end of Christmas, the end of the semester, parent conferences, the end of winter break. Parents signed up to be able to tell the teacher how cool their kids were. Endless talk about their kids. They didn’t care about behavior or academics. They wanted to tell us, their teachers, all about their
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Thanksgiving is about fruit salad. Forget the birds and big gourds, even the shellfish and breadcrumbs. It’s all about the fruit. When Dad was little, his dad would make this incredible fruit salad during the holidays. When you’re from Clay county WV, that fruit salad is a gourmet delight. Grapes, bananas, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail,
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Getting old has symptoms. Stuff I’d always made jokes about in people are really true. Losing hair, eyesight, and teeth aren’t funny things that happen, but do. I’ve always been a list maker and note taker. Memory loss may or may not occur, I don’t know. What I need to remember, I do. The power
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“I’ve got a plan,” said Norris. He looked around the room until his eyes found the dog. It was a poodle, a big brown one. In the poodle world it had several names: German Water Retriever, Standard Poodle, Brown Abstract Poodle, Spoo, Soup Hound, West Virginia Brown Dog, Opal Pearl. Madam, the saddle back, black
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I began drafting the next “Code” last night. Of all the Christmas traditions floating around, my favorite is the Christmas code. My boys tolerate it, everyone else finds it mildly entertaining, and it brings a huge grin to my face every Christmas celebration. I don’t put name tags on packages, I have a secret code
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Hurricane Ian “Make a wish. Cross your fingers and close your eyes. Blow a kiss onto your fingers and into the fire. Open your fingers as you blow. That’s right. Now your wish will come true,” said the storm . “It’s a Fire wish.” Ian, the mighty Hurricane was at category five and powerful. A
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In the Midnight Hour
In the midnight hour, when no one else is around or listening, the story I tell myself is that I didn’t fall off the turnip train yesterday. That the voice of Linda Ronstadt still rings true in my heart and head. I’m still the woman I was forty years ago even though I have silver Read more
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Long ago
I’m still not used to the Fourth of July without the indignity of the sumptuous feasts my mother concocted on her birthday. They had everything but bursting fireworks against the black sky. They weren’t necessary for her celebrations. Everyone was too tired for them by dark anyway. The family would have had to replenish its Read more
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Lasagne Night
“Do you remember when we had dinner in that old house in the woods on the farm?” Ruby asked as she took the pan of lasagne out of the oven. Alan smiled. “Yeah, you wore your prom dress and I wore my sport coat. Mom made lasagne for us. We took it to that little Read more
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School’s Out for Summer
Image generated with AI Being home in my forest among my flowers allows me to be me. The old people said “tending violets cures melancholy.” There’s something about digging in dirt to plant my begonias and impatiens that does the same thing. It restores my soul from working all fall and winter. Every morning of Read more
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Goulash
Image generated with AI. “I’m making goulash for dinner tonight. I’m going to use Mom’s recipe too.” said Janice. Mason hoped she remembered the recipe. Sometimes her memory of her Mom’s dishes were sketchy and turned out awful like the soup. He was skeptical of this goulash stuff. It had a weird name to it Read more
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Putting it off… Once, I was a fashion plate. I dressed in incredible clothes that I designed and made myself. I’d stay up into the wee hours sewing complicated patterns with facings, buttons, zippers, lots of handwork, and they were amazing. Designer clothes. Beautiful work. When I got pregnant with twins, that shit stopped cold
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I never had a problem with my hair, but Mom was always messing with it. She never let me grow it long because “I couldn’t take care of it.” Truth was, she didn’t want to take care of it and said I was too lazy and inept to handle it, qualities I’ve fought off my
-
IT’S DIFFERENT written by: Devonne Brown published by SpillWords, January 19, 2023 @athesaurus1 The quiet is different this morning.Its timbre has a breadth, a substanceI hadn’t noticed before.The quiet when the boys slept was full of their dreamsThis emptiness is hard. It supersedes noisefrom the TVthat deafens the background silence.It shatters then evaporates like it
-
This Week The end of Christmas, the end of the semester, parent conferences, the end of winter break. Parents signed up to be able to tell the teacher how cool their kids were. Endless talk about their kids. They didn’t care about behavior or academics. They wanted to tell us, their teachers, all about their
-
Thanksgiving is about fruit salad. Forget the birds and big gourds, even the shellfish and breadcrumbs. It’s all about the fruit. When Dad was little, his dad would make this incredible fruit salad during the holidays. When you’re from Clay county WV, that fruit salad is a gourmet delight. Grapes, bananas, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail,
-
Getting old has symptoms. Stuff I’d always made jokes about in people are really true. Losing hair, eyesight, and teeth aren’t funny things that happen, but do. I’ve always been a list maker and note taker. Memory loss may or may not occur, I don’t know. What I need to remember, I do. The power
-
“I’ve got a plan,” said Norris. He looked around the room until his eyes found the dog. It was a poodle, a big brown one. In the poodle world it had several names: German Water Retriever, Standard Poodle, Brown Abstract Poodle, Spoo, Soup Hound, West Virginia Brown Dog, Opal Pearl. Madam, the saddle back, black
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I began drafting the next “Code” last night. Of all the Christmas traditions floating around, my favorite is the Christmas code. My boys tolerate it, everyone else finds it mildly entertaining, and it brings a huge grin to my face every Christmas celebration. I don’t put name tags on packages, I have a secret code
-
Hurricane Ian “Make a wish. Cross your fingers and close your eyes. Blow a kiss onto your fingers and into the fire. Open your fingers as you blow. That’s right. Now your wish will come true,” said the storm . “It’s a Fire wish.” Ian, the mighty Hurricane was at category five and powerful. A
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Water Wings
Water Wings “Let go,” he said. He trusted his water wings as much as he trusted me in the deep end under the lifeguard stand. I wasn’t sure I heard him right. There was so much noise around us. Splashing, water falling, kids screaming. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear him right. He was…
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I’m Fine
“How are you?” she asked. That’s always a loaded question. Who asks it gets a different version of the truth of it. The answer is most usually the first lie of the day. “Fine.” I’m scared. I’m worried for my life. I am worried for my son’s life. He’s working on his master’s in grad…
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She Waited
She waited… Margo kept thinking to herself, “I waited, but I don’t think it was long enough, or maybe I was on the wrong track. That must’ve been it. I was on the wrong track. I know I got the trains mixed up.” She wept. She sat on her suitcase on the platform and just…
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Halloween Slumber Party
“Hello.” I heard it plain as day. I knew right then it was coming back to the house from the storage facility. I took a pickup truckload of stuff to my building, in the rain and brought back a Ouija Board. “Hello,” it said again, louder this time. I knew where it was and…
Devonne Brown 