what i said when you asked me to stay

barely on the map, i am lost and

supine in solitude, looking for a sky

that doesn’t stare back, the wind is

carrying sunflower seeds across

the Utah desert south to the San Juans,

now we flee from desire to devour

the numinous beauty of the Rockies

Gunnison whispers back to me and I see you

within the vermillion sunset, something i remember

from the before, the gas station bathroom sink

with water too cold to not be a glacial lake.

in this life, libre means free and

trails are meant for dancing.

deluge and petrichor taught me to go

southwest and then southwest again, so I end in

Durango and breathe big broken air.

to leave is to be, to stay is to go.

take me, Colorado, take the eighty miles

between us and shrink it to one.

Kristen Richards is an undergraduate student at Colorado College pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing. Kristen grew up in Massachusetts, and has spent the last few years of her life in Colorado. She is fascinated by the landscape of the west, and place and space is an essential element of her poetry. Kristen's work can be found in The Catalyst, Cipher, and The Leviathan.