North Carolina: A State of Change, a Changing State
N C L R ONLINE
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Listening Vessel, 2009 (gum over platinum/palladium, 16x16) by Diana H. Bloomfield
since I came back from Boston. I keep noticing broken doorknobs. This morning I cried because there was a tiny crack in my cereal bowl and because my joints hurt. I can feel the weather change before the temperature drops. I might have forgotten how to pray. I can’t stop thinking about that winter of yours in 1998 when it didn’t get above 20 degrees for 39 days but it never snowed. Lately, I understand that kind of disappointment. You don’t get cold like that anymore and I’m tired of always feeling my face. Remember that boy I loved, the one that didn’t grow up with you? I used to think I could feel the dead skin of my scarred leg as his fingers trailed along the missing nerves.
Samantha Lee Deal is originally from Boone, NC, and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with Honors in creative writing. Her work has appeared in The Cellar Door and Cold Mountain Review. She received honorable mention in the 2011 Summer Literary Seminars Contest. Currently, she is pursuing an MFA in creative writing at UNC-Wilmington.
Raleigh resident Diana H. Bloomfield received her MA in English literature and Creative Writing from North Carolina State University. An internationally exhibited photographer, she has won numerous awards for her work in solo and group exhibitions, and she has received Regional Artist Grants from the United Arts of Raleigh. Her photographs have appeared in such publications as Pinhole Photography: Rediscovering a Historic Technique (Focal Press, 2004), Pinhole Journal, and Diffusion. She has taught photography at NCSU’s Craft Center and at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies, and she now teaches private workshops. She is represented by Adam Cave Fine Art in Raleigh. See more of her work on her website.