memories picked clean from a whale carcass
by Carina Solis
do you remember the morning we found
a whale carcass / bloated seaside by the rocks
& pulsing with lavender bones / i imagine
if we stayed a few moments longer / instead of
crying with the seagulls for its moon belly /
the body would have burst / red and lovely
& we’d have walked home with flecks of death
tangled in our hair / it would have
become our antique legend / curled within our palms
like a dragon’s tail / something more to remember
summer by / than black cherry pits / cyanide hearts /
& the whir of your dad’s old stand fan.
Carina Solis is an African-American writer from Georgia. Her work has been recognized in the Eunoia Review, the Ice Lolly Review, the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and elsewhere. She is also an editor at Polyphony Lit, an intern at Young Eager Writers, and a mentee at Ellipsis Writing. She is fifteen years old.