BACK IN OUR HOME
NEW YORK
NEW YORK
by Amy Schmitz
the kill moves again
churning up what’s been hidden all winter
mostly plastic grocery bags
Almost lace-like they shiver against rocks
eyed by fish on their way to Vermont
Where does regret go this time of year
where there isn’t already mud
We could have been heroic
trailblazing through town
We could have been lyrical
like the first crocus of the season
near the bakery
but we’re extreme
waking in a hotel the kill once flowed through
making a wonderful list
of all that’s wrong
Let me tell you there is more than one way
to taste salt
There is only one remedy for settling
This isn’t like that
This is like walking through settlement fields
only to realize we’re walking on snow-buried
railroad tracks
Do you see what I mean
The risk happens every time we step
_____________________________________________________
Amy Schmitz’s work has been published or is forthcoming
in Connecticut River Review, Gyroscope Review, High
Plains Literary Review, Juked, Sugar House Review,
City Works, Kestrel, San Pedro River Review, Louisiana
Review, Borderlands: Texas Literary Review, Askew,
Freshwater, and elsewhere. She has won awards from
Poetry International, the Women’s National Book
Association, and the CNY chapter of the National League
of American Pen Women. Schmitz earned an MFA in
Creative Writing from George Mason University.
◄ Previous page Apple Valley Review, Fall 2019 Next page ►
the kill moves again
churning up what’s been hidden all winter
mostly plastic grocery bags
Almost lace-like they shiver against rocks
eyed by fish on their way to Vermont
Where does regret go this time of year
where there isn’t already mud
We could have been heroic
trailblazing through town
We could have been lyrical
like the first crocus of the season
near the bakery
but we’re extreme
waking in a hotel the kill once flowed through
making a wonderful list
of all that’s wrong
Let me tell you there is more than one way
to taste salt
There is only one remedy for settling
This isn’t like that
This is like walking through settlement fields
only to realize we’re walking on snow-buried
railroad tracks
Do you see what I mean
The risk happens every time we step
_____________________________________________________
Amy Schmitz’s work has been published or is forthcoming
in Connecticut River Review, Gyroscope Review, High
Plains Literary Review, Juked, Sugar House Review,
City Works, Kestrel, San Pedro River Review, Louisiana
Review, Borderlands: Texas Literary Review, Askew,
Freshwater, and elsewhere. She has won awards from
Poetry International, the Women’s National Book
Association, and the CNY chapter of the National League
of American Pen Women. Schmitz earned an MFA in
Creative Writing from George Mason University.
◄ Previous page Apple Valley Review, Fall 2019 Next page ►
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Apple Valley Review:
A Journal of Contemporary
Literature
ISSN 1931-3888
Volume 14, Number 2
(Fall 2019)
Copyright © 2019
by Leah Browning, Editor.
All future rights to material
published in the Apple
Valley Review are retained
by the individual authors
and artists.
www.applevalleyreview.com
A Journal of Contemporary
Literature
ISSN 1931-3888
Volume 14, Number 2
(Fall 2019)
Copyright © 2019
by Leah Browning, Editor.
All future rights to material
published in the Apple
Valley Review are retained
by the individual authors
and artists.
www.applevalleyreview.com
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