One Summer Mother

by Marla Chalnick

I hear babies crying
windows open
sun barely set
curtains still
air silent
babies crying in the alley
Mother says I am bad
says I take advantage of her
what does that mean?
I eat supper in the bathroom
cold tile floor feels yummy
against my bare legs
toilet seat is my table
scrambled eggs are cold
I push them around the plate
lose my appetite
crying babies in the alley
I lie in bed in my underwear
my room an oven
no milk and cookies
no TV
just me wishing
I could fall asleep
babies cry in the alley
Mother says they’re cats
I don’t know any cats
they sound sad
maybe they are starving too

Marla Chalnick is a semi-retired psychotherapist, an active volunteer with Hospice, and a writer. Her work has been published in Iodine Poetry Journal, THRIFT Poetic Arts, and Tuesday’s Children: A Collection of Poetry and Prose.

About One Summer Mother—The poem was created from a childhood memory that has never gone away.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Issue 28 – Spring 2023
Home
- Elizabeth Lutyens, Editor in Chief
  “It’s Only Human”
Interview
- Great Smokies Writing Program Coordinator Jennifer McGaha
  With Special Features Editor Janet Moore
  “What’s Next: Building on Firm Foundations”
Nonfiction
- Amy Jane Lynch
  “Walking the Barrel”
- Amanda Burns
  “Remembering Clare: A Love Story”
- Zoe Rhine
  “The Prankster’s Laughter Stone-Skips Across the Lake”
Fiction
- Billie Harper Buie
  “Refugees”
- Pam J. Hecht
  “The Lions”
Poetry
- Judith A. Davis
  “Stopping by a Farmstand on a Summer Afternoon”
- Karen Luke Jackson
  “Open Heart”
- Margaret Bishop
  “Dying to Be Born”
Craft Session
- Bruce Spang
  “Syntax as Style in Poetry:
  The Invisible Craft of an Artful Sentence in Poetry”
Reflection
- Zoe Newton
  “Selective Memory”
Archives
The Great Smokies Review

Elizabeth Lutyens, Editor-in-Chief, Founder
Janet Moore, Special Features Editor
Julie Abbott, Submissions Editor
Patrick Pickering, UNC Asheville Intern
Michael Mauney, Photographer

Jennifer McGaha, Great Smokies Writing Program Coordinator
Lilly Danzis, GSWP Administrative Assistant
Tracey Rizzo, Dean of Humanities, UNC Asheville

The Great Smokies Review is an online publication of The Great Smokies Writing Program, a joint effort of the UNC Asheville departments of Literature and Language, Creative Writing, and the Asheville Graduate Center.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
We accept student fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction submitted by faculty of the Great Smokies Writing Program and other UNC Asheville writing programs. Submitters will receive a guidelines checklist to complete.

All rights reserved. This publication may be freely distributed only in its entirety and without modification, and only for private use. Excerpts may be reproduced and distributed only by permission, except in the case of quotations for use in reviews and interviews. The creative works published in The Great Smokies Review do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of its staff, The Great Smokies Writing Program, or the University of North Carolina Asheville.

One Summer Mother

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Issue 28 – Spring 2023

Home

Interview

Nonfiction

Fiction

Poetry

Craft Session

Reflection

Archives

The Great Smokies Review