The Days and Nights of Catherine Evermore

Seriously, TV shows are boring me to death. The news shows are all about social injustice, cancel culture, BLM, we hate Republicans, Donald Trump sucks, Biden is wonderful (NO! He’s not!) … the list goes on and on.

I’m watching “The Closer” series for the third time on Prime. When “Bosch” comes back this summer, I will binge watch every single episode from day one before watching the new season.

As the TV cancellation list is made available, I see that one of my favorite shows has been canceled. Why? I suspect it’s because the writing sucks!

Writers today (of which I am not one) are all over the map. I watched one show that had at least five different scenarios going on at the same time. Please. Give me maybe two things to concentrate on and you’ve got me as a fan. Five or six? Forget about it.

The news isn’t much better. I watch local news for the weather report. For weeks now, local news has been all about COVID and the renaming of local schools (my alma mater is being attacked). It seems that students who attend schools name for Confederate generals are unhappy. Forget the fact that these schools have been around since the 1920’s.

In a way, I understand how they feel; however, changing the name of a school won’t guarantee that the students aren’t going to be just as stupid tomorrow as they are today. It’s more of the cancel culture thing that drives me nuts!

Back to TV … mine is free TV as I refuse to pay anyone to bring me hundreds of stations that I will never watch. Free TV gives me 20-30 stations that I’m basically ignoring anyway, so what’s the point.

Period.

© Catherine Evermore. All rights reserved.

eye bolts are in the ceiling
visible to the naked eye
eye bolts two of them
round and strong and heavy
screwed into heavy wooded beams

two chains
hang from the eye bolts
thick metal chains
metal clamps on either end
cold to the look and touch

a three foot bar
attached to the chains and clamps
a cold metal bar
trapeze-like suspended in the air
its presence is surreal

thick straps
on either end
of the cold metal bar
leather straps with big snaps
strong black leather straps

a deep brown leather chair
in one corner of the room
it has an old world smell
deep cushions with leather arms
the leather moans with movement

on the leather footstool is a blanket
wool plaid and warm
tossed loosely across the footstool
ready to be used for comfort
to wrap around the shivering body

a small wooden table is next to the chair
three candles are lit but there are more
a silver ashtray with cigarette box
a coaster for the crystal snifter
a leather-bound book of favorite poems

someone is sitting in the chair
sipping on a glass of cognac
legs crossed to reveal
black leather boots with silver tips
a leather whip rests across the lap

a woman is in the room
arms held high above her head
wrists slipped inside
the tight leather straps
her body is fully exposed

she is draped with white chiffon
as if the material were a snake
winding its way around her body
her eyes wide open
as she takes in the room

the fire in the stone fireplace
illuminates her body
she stretches to keep her balance
standing tiptoed
she does as she is told

“Pet, you please me,” the voice whispers to her.

“Thank you, Sir,” she whispers back.

© Catherine Evermore. All rights reserved.

Earned It
by The Weeknd

There was a time in my life when I thought 1969 was the worst year of my life. That was the year I lost a child and lost my mind.

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, could possibly compare to 2018.

Early in the year, I found out that I had cancer (Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma). The news was unexpected and left me questioning if I could possibly survive everything that was about to happen to my body.

A week of tests to determine the stage of the cancer and the strength of my heart followed. Stage one. Healthy heart.

Then a port was implanted … a way for the poison to be injected into my body every 21 days for six rounds of chemo. I experienced every possible side effect and every possible indignity for six months.

Losing my hair was the least of my worries. It’s true. Bald is beautiful. Pale skin, not so much. Severe weight loss. Frightening.

But, I survived even during the times when I said, “No more!”

In October of 2018, the love of my life passed away very unexpectedly. It was a shock … one that makes me sad to this very day.

December rolled around and a week before Christmas I was taken to the hospital via ambulance because I could not breathe. Two days later and a failed heart catheter, I had two open-heart surgeries in one day. Double by-pass and one to stop the bleeding.

I knew of nothing going on for four days. In fact, my hallucinations were so severe that I thought I had been kidnapped by people pretending to be hospital employees, and they were trying to gas me to death. Once I was fully awake, I whispered to my BIL to call the police because I had been kidnapped. It took a little doing for everyone to convince me that I had gone through surgery and was really in the hospital.

That was how we spent Christmas Day in 2018.

Recovering at a rehab facility followed, and finally, after being away from home for almost a month, I went home but not for good. Three additional hospital stays followed … one to implant a huge defibrillator in my chest, and others to get my heart and medications working properly. I had in-home PT for months with follow-up visits to no less than six doctors.

So … here it is 2021 and I’m alive. Just like everyone else, I’ve done the social distancing thing for a year. I’ve got a supply of masks and gloves that I still wear and will continue to wear a bit longer even though I’ve been vaccinated. I’ve not seen my family in over a year, and we rarely talk. Seems politics did a bit of damage to our relationship.

I hope to make it to 2022 … God willing. I pray you do, too.

© Catherine Evermore. All rights reserved.

 

Seriously …