Places She Ran


Places She Ran

Albuquerque in October
blazing sunrise 
colorful constellations
dot azure skies. 
Eagle’s view fails to find
fragments she left behind. 
Ghosts of conquistadors
homesteaders, and warriors
inhabit El Paso- desert 
jewel reflected in the Rio Grande.
Kings of the rodeo could not
lasso her though- she ran to
Memphis and shared her blues with Beale Street.
Never found grace in Graceland
only dreams
pawned in glittery shops for a
quart of gin.
Reflections distort in the
sun, where she took a pretty boy's virginity
to replace the one she left
under a willow tree.
Vapid thoughts eased pain
weaving through her mind.
Xavier wasn’t her savior
yesterday is never really gone, and
Zion is not where she belongs.

__________________________________________________________

I was raised in a cultish religion and I felt smothered by it, so when I was 17, I ran away from home. I hitchhiked back and forth across the country for 7 months. Sometimes it feels like it all happened to somebody else. It was as amazing as it was terrifying. I don't know what I was looking for, but I didn't find it. 

Looking back, I am just happy that I survived. 

The poem itself is an A to Z acrostic. If you look at the first letter of each line, they run the alphabet from A to Z. 














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