When I come upstairs to ask her to do dishes, her room
smells of cedar smoke, slightly skunky, like pot’s half-brother.
Melissa Helton
Melissa Helton lives, writes, and teaches in southeast Kentucky. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Shenandoah, Still: The Journal, Appalachian Review, and more. Her chapbooks include Inertia: A Study (2016, Finishing Line Press) and Forward Through The Interval (2021, Workhorse).