Meggie Royer

Lars

Lars Mittank was a German tourist who disappeared in Bulgaria in 2014 after fleeing
an airport and running into the forest. He has never been found, though several
people have reported unconfirmed sightings of him in the years since.

This meadow restored to order,
green sewn to leaves
like feathers, breath of animals
no longer with us, this fire pink and synaptic
in my head; death by men
our most common similarity.
If you see me later, I’ll be this plane, this map,
this last trembling
before I leave you here.
We had water, blue thread of empire,
which grew,
which held my mother’s swelling,
this thing that births and burns,
my head going under;
most of what will kill us
already has

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Meggie Royer (she/her) is a Midwestern writer and the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Persephone’s Daughters, a journal for abuse survivors. She has won numerous awards and has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize. She thinks there is nothing better in this world than a finished poem. Her work can be found at meggieroyer.com.