Inversion

We are singing beneath the ochre haze

of smog and sleet and phosphorescence,

trundling up the great hill in the great car, the sharp slopes of the Avenues,

keen with anthems made unsweet by us—

arguing music with grayed snow,

sure that we can make it

to our desired elevation,

dark beyond these unflinching highways:

somewhere we can finally see the stars and breathe.

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Aubrey Johnson earned her MFA in Poetry from Brigham Young University in Provo. She is currently a PhD candidate in English at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She has poetry forthcoming from Canary Literary Magazine and Arcturus. b. 1987