Dear Parliament

Thank you for letting me go
through your garbage, dissect
those unwanted parts of you.
Indigestible mysteries. Murine
skulls like haunted houses. I love
how you move on without regrets.
Empty out your body Swedish-death
style. Abandon your trash to become
treasures on the forest floor. Pardon
my own paltry regurgitations, but I
understand that Strigiformes hustle—
owl pellet economy. Without you
we'd never get a bird's-eye view of life.

back to issue

Mariel Herbert's poems have appeared in Failed Haiku, Haiku Dialogue, and Liminality, among others. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family, online at marielherbert.wordpress.com/.