COMING IN 2023

LION TAMER MEMOIR II

Into the Cauldron

Van Gogh’s Cadillac, Angel’s Storm, Bear Creek Road

Marie takes control of overwhelming anxiety from being molested by taking charge of her feelings and running headlong into a wall.  A few years later, alone, she handles her anxiety with a fifth of Jack Daniels and painting portraits. She wakes to feathers and ashes in her face from falling asleep smoking in bed. She looks at her burned-up pillow, tosses the burnt bedspread into a dumpster, and pulls out of the nose dive by looking death in the face caring for elders. She slips further when glasses of wine turn to white lines and a two year fight with her first husband. The curly-haired neighbor’s face glows in the match light he holds in the cup of his hands. The men fight over her which makes her proud, and defiant when they arrest her new boyfriend. “’You can’t take him. He was defending himself!’ Another officer walks up. ‘If you want, we can arrest you too, ma’am.’”