holly day
the seagulls huddled on the beach, pressed together
seeking warmth from each other, the cold
of the corpses unearthed by the storm
was contagious. they swarmed over
the small bodies huddled just beneath the sand
noisy where they landed, brief gaps between white feathers
revealed fingers, a clenched fist
an arm exposed to the shoulder
a head of close-cropped blond hair.
the firemen came with hoses
the shrieks of angry birds could be heard
all the way down the beach.
***
Holly Day’s poetry has recently appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Grain, and Harvard Review. Her newest poetry collections are In This Place, She Is Her Own (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), A Wall to Protect Your Eyes (Pski’s Porch Publishing), Folios of Dried Flowers and Pressed Birds (Cyberwit.net), Where We Went Wrong (Clare Songbirds Publishing), Into the Cracks (Golden Antelope Press), and Cross Referencing a Book of Summer (Silver Bow Publishing), while her newest nonfiction books are Music Theory for Dummies and Tattoo FAQ.