Jane Audrey Schmidt. Colorado; Before This

Soft white belly-sky meets the yellow skin of plains 

Of bulging hills held down by stretch marks 

Unshaven, uneven, scabbed and jagged, ugly 

Swallowing whole the old frames of jagged wood and rock 

Fattening his plump stomach, bursting at the seams. 

Fresh scars, something that presses and he says.

 I was beautiful, see, the concrete cuts through 

Where his dirt-belt once held buckles 

Of silver and turquoise cowboys 

See where his boots once hit the ground like thunderous herds 

Fashioned with spurs of copper and gold 

Shadowed by a Stetson of bright blue, big as the sky, 

I'm sure you can still hear him sigh, in every gust of wind, 

I was beautiful, before this, and he pulls a hand up, 

That shivering, gray hand, crumbling limestone and coal 

And reaches desperately for the West 

Jane is an anthropology student who identifies herself through her Missouri upbringing and love for all things history. She has been writing since she was little, but poetry is a fairly new pursuit and outlet for all those things art and speaking just can’t seem to grasp.