a golden shovel after “Small Kindnesses” by Danusha Laméris
I panic-rush with my package from my car to the door only to find that while it’s already 5 o’clock, it’s unlocked. These post office workers know the jams of our traffic. Brief openings, strict deadline flexibility, offer moments of relief, of getting what we need. Grace in the face of the headlines we endure, the tired smiles we exchange.
Lauren Oertel is a writer, editor, and community organizer based in Austin, Texas. She is a writing workshop facilitator certified in the Amherst Writers & Artists method. Her work has been published in Black Fox Literary, The Westchester Review, Gemini Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and more. She has been a winner and finalist in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction contests with The Letter Review, Writer’s Digest, Prime Number Magazine, and others. Lauren is the coauthor of the book Inside Out: A Texas Prisons Poetry Story, and her debut full-length poetry collection, Scars & Other Luxuries, is forthcoming with Finishing Line Press in November.
