Tower Fall, 2025

by A.M. Albaugh

a black bear eats chokecherries
on the ridge, mother said
the cord coiled around my neck
three times, maybe, I knew
what was coming, a raven on a rock
waits, we used to pick wild
strawberries and watch fireflies
in the fields, now blood drains
from my vein for food, they killed
a fox on the bridge, it only knew
summer, on a mound under a tree
the jawbone of an elk speaks, save the moth
from drowning in the creek, a hawk
circles near the realm of secrets where
Jupiter and Venus meet, breathe in
the sagebrush after the rain the sunburn
peels, a new shade unveiled
by the waterfall.

A.M. Albaugh is a writer and photographer. She likes to travel and her work has been published in The Festival Review, Sad Girl Diaries, PhotoVogue, and more.