Alyssa Brown
Alyssa Brown lives in Florence, Italy, where she works in tourism and teaches English. Originally from Northern Minnesota, she will graduate from Southwest Minnesota State University in May 2026 with a B.A. in English, concentrating in creative writing. A former pastry cook and avid gardener, she also writes fiction and creative nonfiction.
Into the Wild
Mother is gone again
She often disappears
flees on her bicycle
and is gone until dark
or the next day-who knows.
Sometimes we catch her
just as she is gently closing the screen door.
She says she is going to
take pictures of the sunset,
her new camera dangling
from her neck as proof.
We know that the only truth
in that cigarette-stained yellow kitchen
is that our mother is
a secret animal-
unpredictable and dangerous.
She’d evolved before us-
Hackles and fangs and
no more pretty birthday cakes.
But we also know
that she is out there
somewhere in the darkness.
We will keep the porch light on
just in case.