North Carolina Miscellany

179

N C L R ONLINE

FINALIST, 2018 JAMES APPLEWHITE POETRY PRIZE BY KIMBERLY J. SIMMS

Trespassing After the Hysterectomy

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Lily-of-the-Valley your pearly bells tremble a child’s mouth brimming with laughter. Daffodils headless green arms gesture split-hearts subterranean leaves blackened. Mole, how sweet is your tongue after your feast of bitter tulip daughters? Dark earth, how do you embrace the emptiness of your bloomless womb your crumbling tubers? Gloved hands, I long to plant again even while pogonia tendrils more exotic unfurl sharp leaves, whorled blossoms beneath the last living hemlock.

Garden of Soul (acrylic ink and collage; 13x19) by Nancy Smith

KIMBERLY J. SIMMS lives on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina between Henderson County and Greenville County in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She has been published in over thirty literary journals, including the Asheville Poetry Review and the Broad River Review. Her chapbook Lindy Lee: Songs on Mill Hill (Finishing Line Press, 2017) chronicles the lives of textile workers in the Piedmont region. She was the 2016 Carl Sandburg National Historic Site Writer-In Residence in Flat Rock, NC. She earned her BA from Furman University and her MA from Clemson University.

Born in Tryon, NC, NANCY SMITH made her home in Chapel Hill, NC, twentyfive years ago after completing a psychotherapist degree from UNC Chapel Hill. She dabbled in drawing and painting her entire life but began a serious pursuit of study under the tutelage of mixed media artist Luna Lee Ray ten years ago. Since then, she has shown her work in many group and solo shows in North Carolina. She is currently collaborating with women writers all over the world to give voice to women’s concerns and experiences in a 2019 gallery event called Women Speak. Find another sample of her art in the Flashbacks section of this issue and see more on her website.