After You Leave
We keep each other out now.
Grief winds the strings of my neck,
my shoulders, rolling mad into
the sour valleys of fertilized fields,
hacking the next cord of rotten wood.
On my bridal day, I slept in the shelters
of pines, nimble on the floor of needles.
Sounds poured out of my mouth like
stripped and shining buckles.
My head rises, remembering your heart
of pebbled snow, your belt undone.
I leave this body at the torn river of felt
and fur. A hole has opened into the world.
A hole has opened. A hole.
First Kiss
Amid the ransacking rumble
of semitrailers, we stumbled
the sloped hill of Pierce Butler, Subscribers can read the full version by logging in.
the truck route near the train tracks. […]
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Returning to Lake Superior
In late August, stomp
on the path through
matted grass, the dark woods.
Run on the shore Subscribers can read the full version by logging in.
and make all the stars sing.
There isn’t a bud or berry
changing, moving, glistening. […]
Not a subscriber? Sequestrum is a pay-what-you-can journal:
Our rates are variable so that everyone can enjoy outstanding literature.
Access this and all publications (and submit for free).
___________________________________
Kathryn Kysar is the author of Dark Lake and Pretend the World and editor of Riding Shotgun: Women Write about Their Mothers. She is the 2025 winner of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs George Garrett Award for Outstanding Service to Literature and recipient of fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her work has recently appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Midway Journal, The Mollyhouse, and Slag Glass City. She is the creative writing program founder and professor at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and teaches at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.
After You Leave originally appeared in Voicemail Poems, while First Kiss and Returing to Lake Superior appeared with Holy Cow Press.