6,971 Steps
Emily Gordon
Under any ground is a grave,
the traces of primeval semen,
a war, a truce, a sly betrayal.
To hike is to be comfortable in nature,
a one-to-one relationship.
To hike in a pair or a group
is to be the pack kind of human,
that is, the normal kind.
To hike alone without preparation
is to be a woman wandering,
either lost or batshit or both.
Emily Gordon grew up in Wisconsin and California and is a longtime journalist and editor. Her poems have also appeared in The Baffler, The Women’s Review of Books, Painted Bride Quarterly, Indie Soleil, HIV Here and Now, Transition, and the Toronto Globe & Mail. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and is a sound improviser for the Dirty Little Secrets show in New York City.