Julia Meylor Simpson
Julia Meylor Simpson lives in East Providence, RI, and works in corporate communications and public relations. Her poetry has been published in a number of national and regional literary journals. She has a master’s in teaching from Rhode Island College and a bachelor’s in journalism from Iowa State University. She finds that a lot of her writing is about the emotional geography of place, and how our roots continue to shape us throughout our lives.
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At the Cliff Walk
Yesterday, I heard an Iowa farmer’s gravel voice as Atlantic surf dashed smooth pebbles against a rootless coast and groaned them back and forth with each surge. In that instant, I was almost six again, falling asleep after card games and Grandma’s fried chicken supper. My grandfather’s deep bass rolled down into waking sleep as I curled up safe on the davenport and let his voice protect me in the dark woods. Yesterday, I stood on a precipice high above churning agate seas, and heard my grandfather’s voice rumble down channels of green cornfields. I lingered as he roared back at the eddies below to save me again. Balancing the Tides—a Newport Journal, Winter 2006 |
Landmark
The windmill in the south pasture marked the corner to turn north for the farm place. Deep breaths of wind made wide paddles whir, scaffold tremble, metal scream against metal as it roused unstirred darkness. As it leaned against nothing. Today, eyes sweep flat-line horizon. Nothing stands to shout: Turn here! Not even a severed skeleton defies baked blue sky. So you drive on. Sojourn, Fall/Winter 2008 |
