her arms break off and the waves take them away

roll them down the beach over and over until they’re gone.

I wonder what the seals and dolphins will think

when they see those white, disembodied hands

reaching out to them from the depth, if they’ll recognize them

as having belonged to some facsimile of a human

some amusement to frighten each other with, build ghost stories around

or they’ll confuse them for some new type of coral

some new construction project perhaps not yet finished.

Eventually,  lesser sea creatures will seek out the ceramic limbs,

scallops and limpets will bind their shells

to the insides of worn elbow joints, while anemones and sea stars

and velvet-black sea slugs will make new homes in the holes and pits

made by careless forklift tines and clumsy delivery men.

                                                                                          ~ Holly Day

                                                                                                Minneapolis, USA