Unlikely Pairings, and: Reading Together

Abstract

Unlikely Pairings, and: Reading Together Gail Tyson (bio) UNLIKELY PAIRINGS Building on the rubble of our lives,we grope for solace in unlikely pairings like a cinderblock cavern signed Ammo& Marital Aids, or these boys dowsing paint chips in Ace Hardware for their band's name—Buckram Binding, Hubbard Squash—hoping it might open doors in Nashville, milesfrom meth labs infesting hollers, those porches where they learned to pick and slide. I hitchonto their hope, let it tow me down the years to the swimming hole and the old tire I'd ride—swinging away from the bank with a whoop, then a plunge, my lithe body breakingthe ice-green water, never looking back. [End Page 52] READING TOGETHER Out the window, hoarfrost beards the mountain;inside, Buck stove flames ripple, dog snores,brandy flares in throat. Snug in twin armchairs, we dwell in two worlds: your Vikings pillage,slaughter; my plucky English detectivescours the village, building her case. Shared solitude anchors us, as alwaysuntil I look across the room, studythe face I've loved for twenty years, turned inward, lured to a faraway placebeyond my reach, and foreboding chills,wills the woman on my page to stow away on your longship, under the dragon-head bow,determined to solve this mystery:how in an instant six feet between us gapes, silence flat and sharp as a blade. [End Page 53] Gail Tyson Gail Tyson shares a log cabin in the Cherokee National Forest, East Tennessee with her husband and border collie. She has published poetry in America, Kindred, Naugatuck River Review, Pilgrimage, and Still: The Journal. Copyright © 2017 Berea College