Photo by Benjamin Voros
Outcry
Elizabeth Wilson Davies
“Are the birds going to eat us, Mommy?” –The Birds 1963
Look out to sea, past dunes and shore grass,
listen for their cries. See carcasses of crabs
stripped clean littering the sand,
a frenzied dance of tracks surrounds a dead
seal pup. A wheeling cloud of herring gulls
swoop into frame, follow the lone boat,
plunge for fish then soar upwards.
They mob closer to the boat, screams
are heard, human or bird, hard to tell.
Observe them approaching the shore,
screeching surrounding the sewage outflow.
Inland agitated lone gulls stab and peck
at splayed carrion, one has its head and neck
inside a rabbit, others feed off vomit,
overturning litter bins with maniacal laughs.
Run to safety now, through your dead garden,
Birds crash into the front door
hurl themselves against windows,
there’s a noise in the attic, a flapping
down the chimney, then a long territorial call.
One bird is inside your house,
head bowed then raised to meet your gaze,
its fierce cold eye shines on yellow skin
its scaly flesh-coloured legs
the blood red spot on its bill
screaming of violence within.
Elizabeth Wilson Davies
“Are the birds going to eat us, Mommy?” –The Birds 1963
Look out to sea, past dunes and shore grass,
listen for their cries. See carcasses of crabs
stripped clean littering the sand,
a frenzied dance of tracks surrounds a dead
seal pup. A wheeling cloud of herring gulls
swoop into frame, follow the lone boat,
plunge for fish then soar upwards.
They mob closer to the boat, screams
are heard, human or bird, hard to tell.
Observe them approaching the shore,
screeching surrounding the sewage outflow.
Inland agitated lone gulls stab and peck
at splayed carrion, one has its head and neck
inside a rabbit, others feed off vomit,
overturning litter bins with maniacal laughs.
Run to safety now, through your dead garden,
Birds crash into the front door
hurl themselves against windows,
there’s a noise in the attic, a flapping
down the chimney, then a long territorial call.
One bird is inside your house,
head bowed then raised to meet your gaze,
its fierce cold eye shines on yellow skin
its scaly flesh-coloured legs
the blood red spot on its bill
screaming of violence within.