Questions Following a Phrase from Life History Notes on the Ohio Little Brown Bat, by Elizabeth Tussey

What little business do bats have?

                        What space for knick-knack bat

tchotchkes? What load limit fields

their sprees?

Can they carry long the heaviness

                                    between their ears? Femur-free yet

full of stratagems and all the echoes

caught. 

What bat ideas arc their flight?

Do they sink under diminutives?

Do they tip from skies when thoughts

are freed?

Elizabeth Tussey is a writer and genealogist from Salem, Ohio. She is a graduate of the NEOMFA Consortium and her writing is featured and forthcoming in I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio’s Appalachian Voices, Women of Appalachia Project, Horrifying Children: Hauntology, Barn Owl Review, The Encyclopedia of LBGTQIA+ Portrayals in American Film, Horror Homeroom, and Postcolonial Text among others. Elizabeth is a descendant of Scottish and Quebecois coal miners from Bellaire, Ohio. She has had a lifelong fascination with their stories as well as the history of the Ohio River Valley. Elizabeth currently lives in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania with her partner, Cooper and is the owner of Tussey Mountain Archival, a genealogical and archival production company specializing in Appalachian research.

This work first appeared in “To Write the World: An Anthology of SE Ohio Writers.” The volume was a joint publication of North Meridian Books and Belmont County District Library. The anthology is an effort to promote the writings of local SE Ohio writers following the Summer 2023 Adult Writing Series. Patrons were given the chance to attend any of six workshops run by Wesley R. Bishop, editor at North Meridian, and then submit pieces for consideration. To purchase the anthology follow this link.