10
2017
NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y RE V I E W
HONORABLE MENTION, 2016 JAMES APPLEWHITE POETRY PRIZE BY RUSSELL COLVER
Acceptable Losses: A Refrigerator Note to My Daughter
Left open cupboard doors swoop in – they go for the eyes – while legos reshape as punji stakes and a single grape in perfect camouflage waits somewhere on the floor. Here are the consequences of your liberation of this space, back now with your husband and boys, big dogs and relaxed ways. Except for one sprawling fall across a fire truck, and your puncturing the sole of your right foot on the legs of an upturned Calico Critters table, we have remained remarkably injury free. No one can live permanently at Defcon 1. Heaven knows we tried. In the world of your childhood shelves were dusted, books platooned by type, CDs by number (there was a directory), and nothing spillable crossed the oriental. Food was never placed on the teak buffet, untouched and lustrous in afternoon’s still light. Plans were handed down. We honed our vigilance on the razor wire of each new day.
RUSSELL COLVER is a current resident of Durham, NC. She is a certified professional Co-Active Coach who has worked in a variety of teaching fields; her specialty is working with adults with Executive Function Impairment. Her recent publications include poems in Blue Heron Review, Kakalak, and Rattle. Her poem “Commencement” won the 2016 James Applewhite Poetry Prize competition and will be published in the 2017 print issue.