In Sean’s Tavern by Natalie Kimbell

In the style of John Mannone

Titillating amber licks sweating sides of crystal cut glass // like seriated flames in bar light // the lowball presses against hot flesh // cold // caressing // anticipation weights my tongue // coyly I swirl the mix of Knob Creek and refracting ice // appreciate the high pitched clink // pass the aged spirits by my nostrils // stroke the air full of nuts, oak and vanilla spice // pride myself on control // slide the slow sip between parted lips // ruminate on the bold burn down the back of my throat // meditate how good whiskey // is never bitter // like divorce

Natalie's poetry is published in The 2019 Chattanooga Writers' Guild Anthology,  and The 2020 Garfield Lake Review, The 2020  Chattanooga Writers’ Guild Anthology, the 2021 Appalachian Writers Anthology, Dorothy Allison Version and The American Diversity Report. Her work appears in the 2021/22 Women of Appalachia Project’s “Women Speak” anthology, the anthology, Beautiful: In the Eye of the Beholder, and in an online issue 82 2022 second quarter  in Abyss and Apex. She will be published in the Chattanooga Writers 2022 Anthology, The Pulse Magazine, Monterey Poetry Review and Pine Mountain Stone and Gravel Appalachia Unmasked, this fall.