Autumn Evening on Summer Lane – Photo by Paul Brookes

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

Zero Gravity

Gayle J. Greenlea

Excerpt for 6 November, 2021

<chapter> Two continued

        Ryan surveyed Owen’s sanctuary in mild disgust. How could anyone stand all this cat hair?  A wad of fluff drifted on a shaft of afternoon sun. Ryan swatted it away. He was not a cat person. It was one of the reasons Banjo lived with Hilary’s ex-husband Owen instead of with her. Christ, Owen. Your place looks like a demo for IKEA. Faux leather lounge, modest dining room set, bookshelves, desk and mini-bar rose like stalks from pale wheat-coloured wool carpet. Ryan crossed ten feet to a CD rack loaded with metal, grunge, jazz, indie, blues, and new folk. He grabbed David Wilcox and threw the plastic jacket onto the lounge. Inserting the disc into the CD player, he helped himself to a full finger of whisky from the mini-bar. Banjo blinked from under the bed in the next room, silently observing the interloper.
        Dulcet melody and characteristically clever Wilcox lyrics reverberated from Owen’s Bosch speakers. Ryan settled comfortably into a worn leather armchair, propping feet clad in Italian leather boots on the coffee table. Not long and Owen would be home. And by God, he would have answers.

-Gayle J. Greenlea

YOU’RE THE DEAD TO ME

First week – Missing – Day Six

Tree says to dead leaf.
“I do not remember you.”
Dead leaf crumples up

-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.