By Meredith Davidson
There were pretty girls in the yard yesterday. They licked their lips, and spiraled their hair in part with confidence, and in part with boredom, as less pretty boys assured them that beauty is pain, but more importantly, beauty is time. They all hurried inside to check the expiration dates The family dogs nipped and yipped around their ankles Pretty girls in hours with dogs dutifully at their feet They might’ve been portraiture subjects The pretty girls retreated to the first floor to help set for dinner, Passing paintings and pictures parallel the staircase The girls laid out napkins Their mothers offered nods of approval which the girls took as validation, and preened as they waited to be served. Their grandmothers bit their lips as they fumbled with the packaging. Must the salad assembly always be such a hassle when it’s just an accessory to meals anyway? Like napkins, the girls laid themselves on the table, as their grandmothers called all to eat.
Janis Butler Holm
Meredith MacLeod Davidson is a poet and writer from Virginia, currently based in Scotland. A graduate of Clemson University with a degree in English, her work has been published in The Bookends Review, Eastern Iowa Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, and elsewhere. Meredith serves as an associate editor for Arboreal Literary Magazine, a contributing editor for Barren Magazine, a staff reader for The Maine Review, and as an editor of From Glasgow to Saturn, the literary journal of the University of Glasgow, where she is currently pursuing an MLitt in Creative Writing.
Janis Butler Holm served as Associate Editor for Wide Angle, the film journal, and currently works as a writer and editor in sunny Los Angeles. Her prose, poems, art, and performance pieces have appeared in small-press, national, and international magazines. Her plays have been produced in the U.S., Canada, Russia, and the U.K.