Renée Owen

5 A.M.

In the unlit house, MaMaw fumbles for her purse and lunch pail, packed with fried chicken and tomatoes from last night’s supper. She walks down the hill to catch the bus, its headlights rushing through dense fog. Row after row of split-rail fences whirl past, the cows milling in dark fields, waiting for morning hay. Ahead, the lights of the coat factory. Its high brick walls loom, a box to contain her for almost all her waking hours. Inside, the foreman begins his yelling. Some of the women start early, the whirr of their machines silencing him. MaMaw picks up her heavy scissors to begin another long day.

blue butterflies
 in wild roses
the scent of longing

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Renée Owen’s award-winning books include This One Life (Backbone Press), Alone On A Wild Coast (Snapshot Press), and Scent of the Past. . . Imperfect (Two Autumns Press).