Kerestin
Meggie Royer
Kerstin G died of hypothermia in 2025 on a mountain in Austria after her boyfriend abandoned her near the top. He did the same to his previous girlfriend in 2023, who survived.
Summit blue like an artery. Frozen rush of glass.
Phone that pings like a pulse in the dark. Somewhere,
a hatch in a treehouse floor; small set of stairs. A child
descending. A room with toys, or books; something
emitting joy. Somewhere, a trap door. A safe house.
I wonder at the mercy of openings. I marvel
at every door we’ve touched.
Just a bit more. Just the moving boxes,
the truck; walls new with paint.
My life calling out to my life
like ventriloquism, reflected in windows
like a mirror. I thought there were more hallways.
I thought there was more time.
The child picks up. A play phone,
the kind with the spinning wheel,
cord trailing like a rope.
Someone will answer: if not for the illusion,
for what he’s done.
Meggie Royer 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. Her work has been published in The San Antonio Review, The Rumpus, The Minnesota Review, and other notable publications. She thinks there is nothing better in this world than a finished poem. Her work can be found at meggieroyer.com.