Honorable Mention in Poetry
Warner Mountain Rain
by Kathryn Gessner
The night of my will melting down
the words we said, the sheets
gummed to my legs, solace
only in that the voices continued
to rise like they should,
explaining one another's treason.
We have the right to fear
the rattlesnake when we can hear it
underfoot, the tail irritable
like rabbit bones beneath the boxes
in our closet.
That scratch of pleasure
a beard makes on my tender skin
when the afternoon has gone
too long into the night of next
morning.
A man followed me to the mountains.
We sat together in the meadow
with the whisper of aspens before
the storm from the south
brought lightning and strong rain.