Time & Circumstance

By Theresa Milstein

“The trunk of this family is lost to history / Photo fragments remain as shadows”
 
With subtle wit, and poignant imagery, the unrelenting passage of time connects the vignettes in Theresa Milstein’s Time and Circumstance. This reflective collection of real and imagined poetry and prose,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
• Release date: Mar 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781925417319

Theresa Milstein

Theresa Milstein has several short pieces published in anthologies and journals. While Theresa's published works are for adults, she primarily writes for children and has been active in the New England chapter of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). She also attends workshops and Highlights Foundation retreats to further improve her craft. Theresa's day job as a special education teacher gives her ample opportunity to observe tweens and teens in their natural habitat. She lives in the Boston area of Massachusetts in the United States. Visit Theresa online: theresamilstein.com

Book preview

time

The trunk of this family is lost to history

Photo fragments remain as shadows

Among anecdotal remembrances

Grandmother asphyxiated from appearances

Eldest aunt expired of embarrassment

While the youngest aunt died of denial

Uncle wallows in what could’ve been

Father perches atop it’s not my place

Above their ancestors’ termite rot

Their children and their children’s children—

Twisted branches spread far and wide—

Brethren brittle breaking, sisters snatching sky—

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

—James Baldwin

part one: tempo adagio

countdown

I turn from the television and glance at the clock.

I have thirty minutes.

One more show.

The TBS channel runs a steady stream of nostalgia: I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched, Leave it to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, The Brady Bunch. All before my time, though technically I watched them in reruns as a kid, so they’re a part of my childhood too. Adults look back at their favourite shows, and long for those better times. But were they really anyone’s good times?

A coffee commercial.

I need coffee.

I’ll grab some on the way.

Yesterday, I went to my English 101 class for nothing. It’s the third time we’ve been stood up. This time the professor collapsed in the parking lot. He’s got emphysema. The old man’s so addicted to cigarettes that he smokes a fake one during class. Sometimes he collapses. Assistant professors only get ten minutes before we’re allowed to leave. Because he’s a full professor, we have to wait twenty minutes to see if he shows up. Thirty minutes to commute plus ten minutes to park and walk, plus twenty minutes to wait, times two equals … a big waste of time. I should quit smoking.

More commercials.

I have twelve minutes.

What show’s up next?

I won’t get to watch it anyway. This morning I have a maths lecture. Not that there’s any point in sitting through it. I’ll be lost among the hundreds staring at the small man on stage. The only help comes from a recent Chinese immigrant who teaches my recitation. He stares inches from the board while he solves problems and whispers in a thick accent. When we ask him to slow down and speak up, he speeds up. What does he have to be nervous about? I’m the one failing maths.

Five minutes.

I’ll sit through these commercials before the next show.

Then I’ll go.

Science is no better than maths. On the first day, the old man on the