In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

19 That Was Then Elvie Comes Home to Rosetta Randall Horton Elvie come home from that straw pallet with dust and red clay stuck to his body. I soak him in the wash-tub for an hour, scrub loneliness from his arms with lye soap before he lay on our cotton mattress. The firmness of his muscles brings me to those hallelujah eyes, and my insides moan like I’m testifying for the Lord. Wrapped in safeness, I forget the lonely nights that held him from me while he streams a creek of salt-water tears. My hand grazes up and down his washboard chest, I erase the stripes that once labeled my man animal. I take his lips in mine, where his tongue held grits and coffee—now it holds the aching of my womanhood. In his heartbeat, I hear twenty inch iron chains, rustling, as he shuffle-steps to the center of my sweet spot to be whole again. ...

Share