Red River

Ashley Kirkland

Kentucky can be
what you imagine a rainforest
could be like. Damp
drizzling for days, droplets collecting
 
like paperweights on leaves soaking you deep
 
scrambling up
a mountainside or hillside waterfall
your fingers digging
into the mud, thick worms,
or at a certain point
what’s the difference?
But when you take
Cloudsplitter to the top
 
of the sky and sleep at the edge
 
of the world (or just Kentucky) in the manifold
 
pinprick stars
lunatic in a hammock hanging
off a cliff 
lunar light keeping you awake
glaring off the pale, orange
landscape, blue-white pine needles
 
where are you?

Genre: 
Author Bio: 

Ashley Kirkland teaches high school English in Ohio, where she lives with her husband and sons. Her work has been featured in 805 Lit + Art3Elements Literary Review, and Cordella Press.

Issue: 
62