Title: “Knocking Off Early
Artist: Mary Senter
Medium: pen and ink
Size: 7” x 20”
Artist Statement: I created this piece last winter while taking a Haiku comics class — my first foray into Haiku and comics. The theme of the assignment was “nostalgia.” When thinking of some of the happiest moments of my life, my thoughts kept returning to Friday afternoons in the carpentry shop at Kirtland AFB, smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, and playing cards with the guys. As a female structural specialist, it took me a very long time to earn the trust and respect of the men, but when they finally enfolded me into their circle, they became my family.

Bio: Mary Senter creates in a cabin in the woods on the shores of the Salish Sea. She earned certificates in literary fiction writing and an M.A. in strategic communication. Her work can be found in North American Review, Gulf Stream, Paper Dragon, Drunk Monkeys, Ponder Review, Cleaver, and elsewhere. She served as the graphic designer for Crab Creek Review, she is the founder of Milltown Press, and the editor of G.I. Days: An Anthology of Military Life. Visit her at www.marysenter.com.