all he knows

by Holly Day

as they pause from playing games

feet

soil slicks past me as

will drag them under

cilia around their warm ankles

the bright shards of crystal spires

the world of bright sunlight, blue water

I will come down from the trees to rest bare

on the solid ground. wet

the sunlight, new flesh. I

wrap long tendrils of hunger

pull them down to where I live

far below

family picnics, thick tree roots.

Holly Day’s poetry has recently appeared in Slipstream, Penumbric, and Maintenant. She is the co-author of the books, Music Theory for Dummies and Music Composition for Dummies and currently works as an instructor at The Richard Hugo Center in Seattle and at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.