Leah Browning
Neighbors
In the next room, static
is crackling at odd intervals
from the radio he leaves on
for company.
The walls are lined with
bookshelves piled with
books and magazines
and knickknacks.
He sits in an overstuffed
armchair and cuts coupons
out of the newspaper
with a pair of silver scissors.
On the TV tray at his side,
there are stacks of them
wrapped in rubber bands
and colored string.
Through the wall, the excess
paper makes a soft sound
as it piles on the floor
all around him.
Alterations
Nights, she sat up
in front of the ancient
Singer, her hair tied back
in a long braid
and the shift dress she wore
to pick me up from school
replaced by something
that made her look
softer, a shapeless
smock in which she bent
forward and lifted and
set down the tiny metal
foot, and every night,
I fell asleep and woke up
to the hum of the sewing
machine, where she sat
nights adding new seams
to evening gowns
until my baby brothers
stirred in the bed
and began to cry.
Cupboards
The kitchen cabinets hide
boxes of macaroni and cheese,
cans of soup, anything
that can be assembled
in under thirty minutes
and eaten alone.
In the medicine chest,
hairpins and combs,
hand cream, face masks,
an army of plastic prescription
bottles with the labels
scratched off.
The bedroom is in the back,
airless, sunlight in a single shaft
moving across the floor until nightfall.
At her desk, there are red
pens and binder clips
and other distractions,
but she must sit
in front of the typewriter
stringing words together
until she has a story
that holds together
like a tiny, perfect dollhouse.
Leah Browning is the author of Two Good Ears and Loud Snow, a pair of flash fiction mini-books published by Silent Station Press, and When the Sun Comes Out After Three Days of Rain, a collection of poetry published by Kelsay Books. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Harpur Palate, Flock, Four Way Review, The Broadkill Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Oyster River Pages, Belletrist Magazine, Poetry South, The Stillwater Review, Valparaiso Fiction Review, The Threepenny Review, Necessary Fiction, The Petigru Review, Parhelion Literary Magazine, Newfound, Superstition Review, Santa Ana River Review, and elsewhere. Browning’s work has also appeared on materials from Broadsided Press and Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf, with audio and video recordings in The Poetry Storehouse, and in anthologies including The Doll Collection from Terrapin Books and Nothing to Declare: A Guide to the Flash Sequence from White Pine Press. In addition to writing, Browning serves as editor of the Apple Valley Review.
11.1