Journal · Read

Green

© Anna Henderson, 2023

by Anna Henderson

In my desolate, 

Gentle field in 

Gordonville, Texas / Ten years old

I am briefly liberated 

From the presence of others 

Instead submerged 

In my own reverie 

Of lone survival and magic.

I search for the mossy tree 

That reclines across

The cotton-mouthed creek 

Where I laze until

Sleep almost swallows me, 

I search for the abandoned trailer 

That plays hide-and-go-seek 

In a cluster of foliage.

The hours slip through 

Strands of my hair and 

My only unit of time is 

The looming nausea 

From being secluded 

For too long, from the

Suspicion that I am 

Suddenly the only person 

Left in the world.