THE WRITTEN WORD
The Written Word is a place for local writers to share their articles, stories, and thoughts with News of Davidson readers. Send submissions to [email protected] . Thanks!
Lice, a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS The school reported lice marching down her yellow braid onto her spelling book. She was sent home. Her sister was sent home from camp, with her own congregation of lice. At each revelation of this plague, their mother would scrub and scrub their...
The Bride Slept In, a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS The Bride Slept in her newly dead mother-in-law’s room:where a silver mirror and crystal hairpin dishstill held their places on the lace dresser scarf.She surveyed the papered blue toile walls where shepherds and shepherdesses, so at ease,posed on their painted...
Sussex Afternoon, a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS The Battle of Hastings in 1066 was not fought at Hastings, but about ten miles up the rail line where a couple mapped their walking tour, where she followed him tunneling through a high hedge of rhododendrons; the red blossoms quivered like paper lanterns. And...
Wheel and Spin: a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS Tuesday. She called. Her voice sounded so close, Mom we loved our visit— we made it home. The horses are fine. And I left my wallet. That kind of call. Her quickcall later: I’m off to haul ...
San Francisco: Castro Street Near Market – a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS On our way to the hospital one morningwe saw a woman slumpedon boarding house steps, head bowedover her knees, a fall of yellow hair.I touched her; she did not look up, but her hand juttedfrom the stepgripping a wine bottle, half full,neck shattered,sharp as...
Plowed – a Poem by Nora Shepard
NEWS Newton School, Asheville, NC 1956 In the third grade we were very seriousabout contour plowing. We poured overthe artless pictures in our textbooks,inspected the patterns placed before us:the swirls and folds in the badly colored fieldsof our rough...
Forecast, a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS for RBS jr (1936-1997) Can you feel the storm rising out the back doorlike a kettle on the stove building steam,the boil coming up, lid rattling, ready to pour down the sides of the pot, down the windows, streamto puddles on the stovetop, a flood between the...
Ars Poetica – a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS Dear reader, are you here too? looking with me at this room, at that chair beneath the casement and a woman entering from our left? She doesn’t see us, sorting and choosing her woolen skeins. You see her there: the basket’s wide oak slatted handle, the colors...
Thank You, Vasili Arkhipov, a Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard
NEWS October 27, 1962 The world, booked in alphabetical order,lined the shelves of the dimly lit denwhere my brother and I dawdledover grade school homework. I fingeredthrough the solar system, sun flares, red mars,moons and a diagram of Sputnik.My brother was...
Villanelle with An Owl
NEWS Nora Hutton Shepard Acknowledgement: Eclipse What if in the morning the sun did not rise, the moon was stuck against the sky and the barn owl flew behind his yellow eyes over the field mice in their darkened maze of grasses, over the pigs...