SLOW SURVIVOR

by Emily Black


Daddy read to us every night, my two sisters
and me. After dinner, in our flannel pajamas,
we gathered around his big armchair.

It was the rhythm and cadence of the words
that I loved. My favorite was “The Highwayman,”
a poem by Alfred Noyes.

Ah, so sad. It was about love and death. For many
years after that I read tragedies, enthralled by stories
of unrequited love, of lost souls and dying damsels.

It took misery settling into my own life to cure me
of reading sad books. A broken marriage that almost
broke me, daughters who abandoned me,

love affairs that ended badly. So, I went back
and reread the stories of my childhood. I found I loved
nonsensical things like “The Owl and the Pussy Cat.”

I read to my son who was born late in my life. We had
tea and reading time in the living room by a cozy fire
after school on winter days.

One book we read was “Abel’s Island.” It had hardships,
but it was about overcoming those and it was a love story.
Now my husband and I read together in bed at night.

He’s an avid reader. Possibly I’ve come to a place where
I could read sad books again. I’d be safe beside him.
I could bury my face in his arms and cry like a little girl.


* * * * *

Emily Black, the second woman to graduate in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida, enjoyed a long engineering career. She began writing poetry recently and is published in numerous journals. Her first poetry book, The Lemon Light of Morning, was published by Bambaz press in 2022 and her second poetry book, We Feed Dragons to the Moon, by the same publisher in March 2024. Emily wears Fire Engine Red Lipstick.