"Black Velvet" • Alannah Myles (by Lizzy Turner)

41 minutes ago
2 min read

STOMP - STOMP - STOMP - STOMP

We’re clomping the grapevine, like molasses – Beverly and me – sultry on the darkened floor, with red lips flashing in our minds. The Victrola strains under bass but it never relents, lets us down, like a heatwave it THUD - THUD - THUD - THUD and we glare ahead, let our little boots hisssss

The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything

As I remember it’s twinkling studs on black – ceiling, clothes, curtains – and yes the beat just THUMPing down, on all of us, the shadowy walls, with the slow Southern smoulder of sundown and smoke. We’re not girls, carried on this gravelly hymn we’re serious, thumbs in loops, practising power with the drop of each heel

Always wanting more, he’d leave you longing for

STOMP - STOMP - STOMP - STOMP

We hypnotise ourselves with dreams of who stares back in the heart of every schoolgirl the pulsing neon, lightning in the dim leaves ‘em crying in the aisle we can’t stop, the strut and scuff of our formation, this new religion bound to drive you wild the style is hammered in with every turn, a stamp and twist it happened so soon, what could you do?

The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true

It happened so soon, what could you do?

This floor is far from our native home, but until the rolling record burns through it’s Beverly and me, kicking dust in the South – slapping leather – glare on the glittering chrome as it passes, blinking into the syrupy distance. We won’t stay in touch, though this THUMP remains, in our little red hearts, when we go kick-ball-crossing back – to Wigan, Mississippi – to Bedford, Tennessee.

STOMP - STOMP - STOMP - STOMP

Lizzy Turner is a writer and artist in London. She likes to write ill-fitting fiction, make collages, draw, and combine art forms. She is one half of collective You Don’t Know, and she co-edits ‘The Spit Bucket’ boxing fanzine with David Turner. Instagram: @Lizzy_Turner_Books. Websites: youdontknow.uk; writersonboxing.com/the-spit-bucket-a-boxing-fanzine