Diane Melby
Salon for Creative Expression
Asterism
a pattern of stars of similar brightness
When I was small, I would walk with my mother
to the grocery store, where if we met a neighbor
Mom would lay her hand on my shoulder and say
this is my number five. I guess it was easier
to refer to her children by number
—there were ten of us after all.
It wasn’t that she didn’t love us, she did
—there were just too many little hands
with too much want. My siblings called me Diney
and for a long time, other folks did the same
though it was hit or miss on how they said it
—Dina, Dinah, or Tiny.
Now most everyone calls me Diane
though that could definitely change
and I’m always excited to find who I next become.
My girls baptized me Mother
—that fit like a flannel gown
growing even cozier
when they added the honorific, Grand.
And there was a time, I worked in Tennessee
—the people there knew me only by title.
Now in my attic are old letters
addressed to every version of me
each a star on my celestial sphere,
a constellation of my contoured life.
Diane Melby
First published: Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild, County Lines, 2025.
Amazon link: https://a.co/d/0eOpkrbH
The System
(A novel released May, 2026)
Kyle Klimov has a five-year plan mapped out to the month: the promotion, the ring, the suburban house—the life everyone expects of him. But in the span of a single week, everything changes. His mentor quits without warning, his ticket out of the small town vanishes, and a black cat shows up at his door, refusing to leave.
Searching for answers, Kyle uncovers something he can’t explain: a chat room hidden behind a dead web link that promises to dissect existential truths. As he questions the script of his life, his real world falls apart. His career collapses, his girlfriend runs out of patience, and Kyle picks up a camera—his old hobby—only to remind himself of the one thing that brings him clarity. Wandering through the autumn woods with his lens, the life he was promised starts to look like a system designed to keep him trapped.
Most people find a way to fit into the system. Kyle has to find a way to disappear.