We make a final Target run
for light bulbs and snacks,
unpack the confusion of boxes,
before we walk
together, empty handed, down
all those stairs in the dorm.
I drive home alone.
Two-and-a-half hours
through dusk, and then dark,
listening to her music.
I keep the Kleenex close,
the road unwinding behind me
like the long dark braid
of her hair.
Donna Prinzmetal is a poet, psychotherapist and teacher. Her publications include: Prairie Schooner, The Comstock Review, and The Journal. Her first book, Snow White, When No One Was Looking, was published with CW Books in May of 2014. Her new collection, Each Unkept Secret, a finalist for the Concrete Wolf Albiso Award, was published in June of 2024 by MoonPath Press.