Dalton Day

Parliament

Dalton Day

No! Really! Owls have begun
to roost inside my belly!
Members of my family! Believe!

That this turn of events! Is
an omen! Of death! Or something
similarly sinister! But this is not so!

They are so soft! They are so
warm! Mother! They watch over me!

As I sleep! They ward off the
ghosts at my door! I cannot be
haunted! Anymore! Mother! Before

the owls! My body was filled with
such empty barns! Before the

owls! Mice moved elegantly
between my bones! Not anymore!

The owls are in my heart!
The owls have nested in my heart!
If they are death! Then death

is not something to fear! Death
is something! That takes care of

you! Until it can’t anymore!
Death! Is only death! Leaving!

And Nail

How’d it get so quiet here? It was
only a hundred years ago that I
first finished counting my teeth.
I guess we’ve reached a new kind
of house. We wheel away what we
can’t carry. I am dizzy. I am a mess
of glowing things. I don’t like to
eat apples as much as I should.
Everything is safe today. We will
never again have to use the word
hallelujah properly. Stay healthy.
Oh, this big and beautiful death.
It’s something else. Meet me in the
mouth of the cave. We can watch
the night skin itself trying to figure
out who let the devil into its home.


DALTON DAY is a Pushcart nominated poet & editor of FreezeRay Poetry. His work has been featured in PANK, Hobart, The Millions, & Jellyfish, among others. He is the author of Supernova Factory as well as the forthcoming Fake Knife. He can be found at myshoesuntied.tumblr.com & on Twitter @lilghosthands. He’s absolutely terrified.