Mary Koles is an M.F.A. at American University, where she is lucky enough to write poetry and fiction under the generous mentorship of Kyle Dargan, David Keplinger, Richard McCann, and Jay Melder. She graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2005, then taught high school in Nashville and Philadelphia, where she was the grateful recipient of a UPENN Fellowship for ESL Educators. Mary currently serves as academic coordinator for SpiderSmart Learning Center in Bethesda. She can think of nothing more delicious for her soul than jazz piano, her students, olives, and any time spent with her inimitable friends and family.
Winner of the Gerald Stern Poetry Prize
We measure our horses in hands.
Only they feel our softness.
They give us each hoof like a lover.
We ask with our fingers.
This wouldn’t be special to anyone else—
this cuff of our sleeve, this saddle on our knee.
We aged on a mountain range,
learned the right moments to feel lonely.
Mostly, we know lonely’s easier
when no one’s around.