Creativeorner

What inspired this piece:

I am often inspired by moments or events in my life that cause me to reflect. This poem was written during a time of overwhelming uncertainty, which made simple tasks like assembling a daybed or doing my taxes seem like too much. My father came over during his lunch hour to help me and I made him lunch. After he left, it occurred to me that uncertainty can be unsettling but can also lead you into moments of unexpected beauty. Writing this poem allowed me to seal and archive both that understanding, and the time spent with my father. And now I am happily that “strong” and “independent” woman I was becoming at the time this poem was written.

What is your preferred style of writing?

I write poetry in contemporary free-verse, with influences of both ancient folklores and modern abstracts. I often use the natural world to find answers and connections to the themes in my work. My style developed from studying Native American and Asian American poetry, which I admire greatly.

Lunch for Daybed

By Lauren M. Davis

I left the front door unlocked, for him to enter as he pleased, so I wouldn’t burn the curry lunch

I was stirring for him at the stove with a wooden spoon.

I heard his leather shoes move up the steps to the foyer, a week’s worth of mail underneath his arm, a collection I dreaded. my father scattered the mail, he prepared for me, over the dark kitchen table. For a while, he disappeared to address the scattered parts

Name: Lauren M. Davis

Hometown: Sussex, New Jersey

Current town: Fort Wayne, Indiana

How long have you been writing?

Just about as soon as I learned to write, I started writing short stories in a little pink notebook. Later, I wrote throughout my preteen and teenage years to try to make sense out of experiences. I began to write more seriously after attending college at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. The amazing writing program at UNCW encouraged me to obtain my terminal degree in writing from the University of Southern Maine.

What advice do you have for other writers?

Read a variety of content in the genre they wish to write in. Just as hearing music might inspire one to sing, reading can inspire one to write. You might try several different voices, writing styles, and subgenres. It also helps to have your drafts critiqued by senior writers who will provide constructive criticism. Just remember that their opinions are just suggestions and that other writer’s works are their own; find your own voice and stay true to it once you do find it.

Where can we find your work?

My book “Women Bones”, a poetry collection celebrating women’s resilience, can be found through Finishing Line Press at www. finishinglinepress.com/product/women-bones-by-lauren-m-davis. You can also visit my Instagram for a link to a list of my works in various publications: @junegarden. a which lie on the floor like fawn legs.

Hours before, I was hysterically, comically, crying— curled over the disconnected segments, unable to properly connect the parts.

I called my wedding off some months before, and was struggling to become the strong, independent, twenty-first century woman I didn’t want to be.

But for now, a certain comfort rushes over me:

I’m a daughter cooking for my father as he assembles two things I cannot manage.

My new apartment is filled with the smell of cumin and eggs, bay leaf and cinnamon.

The windows are open. It is spring.

I hear a wrench turning inside of fresh wood.

My father eats the curry.

The steam, from the tomatoes, the onions, and spices, floats toward his chin and disappears.

I turn to walk down the hall to my bedroom to wriggle the backrest of the daybed.

I say it’s sturdy.

My father hums happily. I picture his face smiling at the table when he says his lunch is good.