Crassostrea virginica

                               :shallow valleys for flowers

mother stirs the flesh
tongue lapping brine, cold
leaks through drafty kitchen
window, tenderly kisses out of tune
piano keys, father used to play
mother and I
a song of hope, skipping broken
keys and dreams, now he breaks
the pearl of his pinky
through the gills, tips
his head back and swallows
hard, knocks
his knees against the table
shakes his bud light
from mother, opening the shutters

pointed nails screech against pane
chipped paint and old polished
chatter scatters reminder of dirty
dishes and shattered glass and pink
slips of oyster flesh we spit
shells into the bed of the garden
like watermelon seeds and hope something new
                                                         will grow

***

Meghan Barrett is currently a graduate student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, working towards a PhD in Biology. Meghan hails from Rochester, NY and is greatly inspired by the ecology of the upstate NY area. Her writing has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Gandy Dancer, Mind Murals, Firefly and The Trumpeter. She blogs with the help of her cat about science, writing, and a mix of the two at meghan-barrett.com.

Read ‘Brilliant Moonbeam’ also by Meghan Barrett here.

Try this