2022 JAMES APPLEWHITE POETRY PRIZE SEMIFINALIST

BY CINDY BROOKSHIRE

Gas Station Hat

The sale rack by the door of the Duck In Blossomed with colorful gas station hats One to fit every traveler’s perception of self: Leather witch hunter. Oilskin river guide. Buffalo plaid, like Catcher in the Rye. Straw beachcomber. Camo boonies or buckets. Construction worker Gloware.

I went for the southern belle: Wide brimmed and floppy with a pink bow. I turned this way and that, trying to fit The whole of my reflection into the tiny pole mirror. I wore that twelve-dollar impulse buy Every day at the beach. It was the crown Of my vacation happiness.

Once home, it cloistered on a closet shelf for years Until one day I placed it on the yard sale table, Thanking it for the memories of my happiness. A little girl eyed it carefully, Producing two quarters from her pink purse. She put it on and rode away on her bike, Streamers from the pink bow trailing.

by Kyle Highsmith

KYLE HIGHSMITH was born in Greenville, NC, and earned a BS from NC State University’s College of Design. He left his architectural practice and began painting full time in the 1980s. He travels widely to paint en plein air throughout Europe, the US, and the Caribbean. His work is in the permanent collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Greenville Museum of Art, in private collections, as well as in many corporate collections, including GlaxoSmithKline, Duke Hospital, and Northwestern Mutual. See more of his art at City Art Gallery in Greenville.

CINDY BROOKSHIRE is a regional representative of the North Carolina Writers’ Network in Johnston County and a member of Triangle East Writers. Her writing honors include grand prize in the 2021 Carolina Woman magazine writing contest. Her poetry and prose appear in the 2023 edition of County Lines. In 2021, she self-published two books: A Heart for Selma: 12 Stories of Activate Selma NC and Little Towns. She currently resides in Pine Level, NC.