The fields were green and brown,
speckled with horses and bales of hay.
We drove with the windows down —
cigarettes for fingers,
black ash stains on torn denim jeans.
No destination, no course,
as the mountain dug its chin into the backbone
of the horizon,
sweeping night and the smell of freedom.
I listened to the curls of your voice,
watched them like puffs of smoke.
We cried together by a dilapidated barn,
and you wrenched at the door in my mind
to no avail, but I caught you —
saw you peek through the keyhole, but I didn’t ask
if you liked what you saw.
I think I got my answer when you said,
You’re not the champagne-eyed girl I fell in love with.
Took your gloves and went. Went somewhere to find
a woman to tie your leash to.
(It never would have been me.)
Kathryn Merwin is a native of Washington, D.C., and a senior at Salisbury University, pursuing her B.A. in Creative Writing and her B.F.A. in Drawing. She loves English Bulldogs, floral arrangement, and collecting blankets. She is currently putting together her first collection of poetry and hopes one day to become a novelist.
Amanda Mabel is a fashion and portrait photographer living in Sydney, Australia. Originally from Singapore, she moved to Perth in 2011, then Sydney in 2012. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts (Advanced) (Honours) at the University of Sydney. In her free time, she loves taking photographs, travelling to beautiful places, and drinking tea. She also happens to blog for Vogue Australia Spy Style. She maintains a website at www.amandamabel.com and can be found on: Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Bloglovin Flickr.