2012

Dolphins have been piling up
on the beach since January.
Fish are dying so thick and fast
their bodies pave the rivers.
These stories keep making the news
and I keep flipping to talk shows
where a crying woman
begs her absent husband
Come back and take care of this thing
you laid down and made with me.

Somewhere a boy stands
under a tree of sleeping blackbirds,
firecracker shaking in his hands.


BY ELAINE BRINEY

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Elaine Briney is a dog trainer in Savannah, Georgia. She also writes poems. She has an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and teaches creative writing workshops for DEEP, a local non-profit. Her poems have appeared before in Unmoveable Feast. She does not potty train cats, so please stop asking.