PEOPLE OF A SENSITIVE NATURE ARE ADVISED THAT THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS EXPLORE FAMILY DYSFUNCTION AND ABUSE ISSUE

Zero Gravity

Gayle J. Greenlea

Excerpt for 4 November, 2021

<chapter> One continued

         Ryan’s voice: “You love me, don’t you? Trust me.” The wave broke. Siobhan, hellcat in corset and black stockings, blonde hair falling around shoulders flushed with alcohol and the thrill of transgression, swayed on a forbidden precipice. Hilary’s body tingled with the electricity of blood rushing back into a limb numb from sleep. Siobhan sliding under the sheets,

indigo eyes slanted in the same mocking gaze she’d telegraphed across Hilary’s life passages since they were old enough to compete – subterranean resentment quaking through birthdays, graduation, journalism awards and her wedding day.
         Two betrayals; no, three. She could not blame Siobhan and Ryan without pointing a finger at herself. And that was the most grievous betrayal of all.
         “Fucking hell!” No matter how far from the past she thought she’d travelled, she always arrived back at the same place. As the big sister, it would be up to her to swallow her pride and pick up the pieces once again.
         A familiar black hole splayed wide old scars. On the outer rim of consciousness, there was that other sister: the one who was more lost than either Hilary or Siobhan. 

-Gayle J. Greenlea

YOU’RE THE DEAD TO ME

First week – Missing – Day Four

Tree says to dead leaf

“You had to go for my sake.

I would not prosper.”

-Paul Brookes

Bios And Links

-Gayle J. Greenlea

is an American-Australian poet and counselor for survivors of sexual and gender-related violence. Her poem, Wonderland”, received the Australian Poetry Prod Award in 2011. She shortlisted and longlisted for the Fish Poetry Prize in 2013, and debuted her first novel, Zero Gravity, at the KGB Literary Bar in Manhattan in 2016. Her work has been published in St. Julian Press, Rebelle Society, A Time to Speak, Headline Poetry and Press, The Wombwell Rainbow, Fevers of the Mind, Kalonopia and The Australian Health Review.