Seascape with Evacuating
       

all of the ocean creatures
have been ripped out
of the pop-up book          no one's

actually been using the trashcan
lately          just tossing used
Kleenex           strands of

dental floss in its general
direction          I have been stepping
over a grinning paper shark

on the bathroom carpet
for a week now           I suspect
my missing car keys

number among this
flotsam           it is fall and spiders
are seeking sanctuary

from the cold          are squeezing
their plump bodies
under door cracks

every morning
I wash one down the drain
a new one dangling

over my head           I shower
praying steam doesn't slicken
whatever informs its

tenuous hold           I feel I
should announce now
it is not ideal to have

carpet near a toilet           eventually
everything floats down
to clogged waterways

where by mistake birds
and fish fill their mouths
with plastic bags           chemical

foam           I can think of
nothing to do with this
limp book but return it

to the shelf           an empty ocean
how many times have I
held two things in my hands

and thrown the wrong one away

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Copyright © 2017 Bethany Schultz Hurst All rights reserved
from Gulf Coast
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission