“Mile-Long Mixtapes”: Ep. #2

“Mile-Long Mixtapes”: Ep. #2

Screenshots of November

by Kellie M. Beck

Smooth Sailin’ // Leon Bridges

Attic floorboards sing along to voices like velvet. Sock-footed, freshly showered, we know the winter is nipping at our heels– so we dance faster to evade its grasp, razor-thin November edges, frost on the skylight crystallized in the dawn. We light fires inside till our cheeks grow rosy and we sweat our brows. Pick up the pace and ride out the light of the year. 

Cigarettes and Coffee // Otis Redding

She had grown beautiful in the approachable way we all wished we were– the beauty that comes when someone realizes just how lovely they are. She had grown teeth over the fall, the trees turning to flames in her mere presence. 

Sunday Kind of Love // Etta James

The window nearest to my bed can’t close completely. In the summer, when the heat of the day suffocates the attic, it’s more than welcome. Now the cold emanates off of it and gnaws at my ears in the morning. My roommate thinks we should put a blanket over it at night. Tucking in the cold. 

Bring It On Home // Sam Cooke

Growing up, my family never had a real kitchen table and chairs. It was a folding table that was a little bit broken, both sides of it dipping towards the middle hinge. We crowded six folding metal chairs around it. We had a dining room, but we mostly used the room to put things we didn’t know what else to do with there. 

My mother just bought a proper kitchen set and chairs. Last spring, they redid the front garden of the house. New trimmings for an empty nest. 

Jealous Guy // Donny Hathaway

They whisper briefly to each other, two planets orbiting throughout the room on different axes, briefly crossing each other’s way and sharing in a brief conversation, only to move away from each other once more. 

She can feel the heat of his gaze on the nape of her neck. A blithe passing hand on her waist, a fresh drink, a secret in her ear.