LindaAnn LoSchiavo
Golden Shovel: Ten
— after Neal Bowers
When I was ten, he forgot me at the butcher, inevitably careless.
I met strangers' eyes with the rapture of recognition, whether man
or teenager, until proven wrong. Eventually, a policeman took my
hand, cradling our soup bones with unremitting care — like a father
in training. Afterwards, the stench of bloody sawdust always
reminded me of abandonment. I ate less and less, leaving
my meals and my solidity behind, slowly becoming a ghost. The me
who was ten years old grew another self who appeared at
will, an impostor rehearsing departure, thumbing rides at bus-stops or rest-stops.
Source poem: "Tenth-Year Elegy" by Neal Bowers (1990)
Opening lines used: "Careless man, my father, / always leaving me at rest-stops,"
Bio
Native New Yorker and award-winner, LindaAnn LoSchiavo is a member of British Fantasy Society, HWA, SFPA, and The Dramatists Guild. Titles published in 2024: "Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems" [Wild Ink], "Apprenticed to the Night" [UniVerse Press], and "Felones de Se: Poems about Suicide" [Ukiyoto]. Forthcoming: "Cancer Courts My Mother" [Prolific Pulse Press, 2025]. Book Accolades earned: Elgin Award for "A Route Obscure and Lonely" and Chrysalis BREW Project's Award for Excellence for "Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems." @ghostlyverse.bsky.social