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issue 3: HEATWAVE

persephone contemplates
the heat at a middle-
georgia rest area

NATALIE ELEANOR PATTERSON
God, but the air is thick 
with water 
and a riot of flies.

I’m not used to all
this nowhere, my sight
bright as yellow lines,

and the sudden darkness
of the women’s restroom
makes me tremble.

Some places only exist
to be passed through
like a curtain

or a ghost or
you get the idea. 
Brief explosions

of strawberries 
light up the sides
of the road,

three old Southern women 
waving me down
like a lost bird.

They seem almost frantic,
sweat congealing 
on their brows,

eyes flashing red 
in the sun. This is the only
fruit you should eat
.

Old women are easy
to laugh at, I think. 
But where was I?
​
I open the driver’s
side door again to 
keep on, keep on

going. Oh, 
yeah. It’s hot as hell
down here.

Natalie Eleanor Patterson is a half-Cuban femme lesbian poet from Georgia working on her BA in English and Creative Writing. Most recently, she has work featured in Sinister Wisdom and Hunger Mountain. She’s the assistant editor of Jacar Press and can be found on Twitter @natalieepatt or at poetnatalie.com.
perhappened mag
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header photo: dieter pelz (unsplash)

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