You feel the heft of the glass door when you push it open, relieved to be safe from a blast of dust blowing across the parking lot. You hesitate. Your eyes adjust to the darkened room, just past noon. You turn toward the laughter. Three folks at the far end of the bar are turned away. You think it might be nice-- at your age, anyway--to be a day drinker-- convivial. You would swap stories. You think, They would listen. Of course, you are an old woman in a wrinkled shirt, carrying a large handbag. No one sees you. You find the ladies room, and then you hesitate, thinking you might sit in front of a slot machine, at least for a little while. Instead, you head for your car. |
AuthorNancy Harris McLelland taught creative writing, composition, and literature for over twenty years and Conducted writing workshops for the Western Folklife Center, Great Basin College , and the Great Basin Writing Project . An Elko County native with a background in ranching. McLelland has presented her "Poems from Tuscarora" Both at daytime and evening events at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko. Her essay, "Border Lands: Cowboy Poetry and the Literary Canon" is in the anthology Cowboy Poetry Matters . Categories |