Free Range
She walks these hills in a long
black veil…Nobody knows but me.
— Johnny Cash
The rest of the song
meant nothing
to me, a child.
I only cared
about the hills,
long veil of sorrow.
Father gone,
mother leaving,
always leaving.
Days alone
were my own.
I took to the woods.
How did I find them?
I wore my veil inside;
nobody knew but me.
*
Kathryn Jordan’s poems have been recognized in the Steve Kowit, Muriel Craft Bailey and Connecticut Poetry Review contests, among others. Her work can be found in The Sun, New Ohio Review and Atlanta Review. She likes her poems to be of service. kathrynjordan.org