This Winter, the Ozarks Turned Off Hot

Women don’t sweat, they glow.
said my Auntie, who died at seventy,
a spinster who only had one lover—
ever.

This winter, the cold is sporadic.
This winter everyone sweats.
My old Auntie would be shocked.

When folks talk about
“the wisdom of age,”
they should be talking about
“the wisdom of persistence,”

tenacity being more useful
than understanding,
which barely comes to us at all
no matter our age.

a version in Unlikely Stories

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About the Author

Wendy Taylor Carlisle lives in the Arkansas Ozarks. She is the author of four books, including, The Mercy of Traffic, winner of the Phillip H. McMath 2020 Post-Publication Award and five chapbooks. Her work appears in Atlanta Review, Mom Egg Review, pacificREVIEW and this spring Doubleback Books reprinted her 2008 book, Discount Fireworks as a free download.