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 two books of poetry, Dark Lake and Pretend the World, and she edited the essay anthology Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers. Her work has recently appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Midway, The Mollyhouse, and Slag Glass City. She has received fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Write On, Door County. She is the Director of Creative Writing at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Wichita State University. She performs with Sonoglyph, a jazz/poetry collective, and lives near the Mississippi River.
After You Leave originally appeared in Voicemail Poems, while First Kiss and Returing to Lake Superior appeared with Holy Cow Press.