Vol. 2, No. 3: The Goal Line Extends Through Infinity photo

RivalryNicole Hylton

first day of practice

and she is there.

raindrop

against a pane of glass:

unbothered;

wildfire

through a forest:

uncompromising.

she skates like forgetting,

like you

could ever.

she shoots to remind you.

her goal

is the instant

all the water

inside the kernel

explodes

and turns itself inside-out.

you make the team and she

crushes you into the boards:

a captain’s welcome.

you let

her gale-force winds

push and punish your sails:

the captain takes no survivors.

 

it is a kind of love

that demands

everything of you.

it is a love

like skating suicides

back and

forth and back and

forth across the

frozen ocean

north-south.

she is the other side

of yourself.

she is your

greatest rival.

she, like this game,

is your greatest love.

Nicole Hylton is a writer-of-all-trades originally from Southern Maryland. She writes poetry, short stories, nonfiction essays, and has completed two novellas, Dropping Her Gloves and Internet Official. Dropping Her Gloves follows a fictional women’s college hockey team and their struggles for legitimacy amidst sexism and racism. Nicole's work has appeared in The Doctor TJ Eckleburg Review, Aethlon, Little Patuxent Review, and Wraparound South. Nicole is currently pursuing an MFA at Northern Arizona University, where she also teaches composition and creative writing. She lives in Flagstaff with her husband and their beloved one-eyed black cat.