Early autumn, we emerge
from our shared sleep haze,

drive Ohio backroads
to the orchard for Galas,

delicata, dough doused
in sugar so thick it sticks

to our teeth. We pick apples,
palm-sized and sun-warmed,

wandering the rows until
all we see is September sky,

a choir of trees, and each
other: a specific universe,

both familiar and new,
briefly ours alone.

Emily Patterson is a writer and editor in Columbus, Ohio. She holds a BA in English from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she was awarded the Marie Drennan Prize for Poetry, and an MA in Education from Ohio State University. Her work has been published in Spry Literary Journal, Better Than Starbucks, catheXis Northwest Press, The Pinkley Press, Apeiron Review, and elsewhere.