somewhere
we’re still wild little girls
in boyish bodies
searching for a point
between hot baked earth
and Oklahoma to call home
the tornadoes have passed now
green skies giving way to
avalanche paths and wildfires in the west

still I see you
chasing magnolia petals
smitten by July wind across the yard
yelping as splinters from sweet gum pods
burst through your soft paws

you were a young girl
in a good world
kneeling for the furred masses of roadkill
and the insects who devoured it
their losses seemingly seasonal
ours permanent

Rowan Waller graduated from Regis University with degrees in Psychology and English. Currently, she works as a full-time teacher and outdoor educator at a nature-based boarding school outside of Durango, CO. Her poetry has appeared previously in literary journals such as Owen Wister Review, The Palouse Review, Outrageous Fortune, Catfish Creek, The Albion Review, Nimrod International Journal (The Tulsa Voice), and Moon Shadow Sanctuary Press.