Brooke Stanish

Dead Things

But me? One day I am thinking of
– Frank O’Hara

the vulture &
the little ivory rat from 

whom it tugged
intestines like rice noodles
made of glass—that’s 

disgusting! says Auntie,
but I am thinking of the time
I am 6, & I catalogue

death as I watch it
in movies: Jurassic Park,
my first experience, 

little girl like me wants
some ice cream but raptors
devour & then Jaws III,

man vanishes his arm
in a shark’s teeth so quickly,
I cannot understand it, 

why I can’t stop seeing
the vulture, albino with
a name I cannot 

remember,
in a cage large enough
for me—

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Brooke Stanish is a poet, writer and PhD student at the University of Southern Mississippi. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University where she was the recipient of the David Madden Award for Fiction. Her work appears in Bloodletter, Sans.PRESS, After Dinner Conversation, Josephine Quarterly and elsewhere.