Bio: M.S. Evans is a poet and photographer currently living in Butte, Montana. Her debut collection, Nights on the Line, was released by BlackBoughPoetry in 2022.

Evans’s work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Ice Floe Press, Anti-Heroin Chic, Green Ink Poetry, and Cape Magazine.

Instagram: @seanettleink

Hi-Line Towns

We pass small towns,
far apart; worn
wood beads on a 
sparse string. 
 
Signs along tracks announce 
names,
Time to hide. Children 
spot us. I wave
 
so they’ll know,
you can leave this way,
someday. Even girls. Upturned


Fresh eviction,
personal possessions 
spill out
 
the gate; a hernia. 
 
Children’s toys form 
a burial mound
 
beside an 
upturned sofa. 
 
I mumble 
prayers of protection. 

New Jersey 1 AM, stifling heat. Wedged on a bed between my grandmother and her portable TV. My voice, thin as vase-water. Here’s, loose river rock. We hefted words smooth skipping stones. The TV made…