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perhappened mag
issue 13: SALTWATER

to the only other
bald girl on the beach

TAYLOR GARRISON
whose head reflects the persistent sun
like a shark’s eye or pearlescent inside
of a conch. i noticed immediately
despite the banana boat stench
& slap of the repetitive tide.
 
remember the summer, the whole beach
closed due to a stranded whale? its eyes
drifting closed & crusting with sand.
 
its body too heavy, too cumbersome
for local ships to haul away & tie down
with explosives, they buried it slowly
grain of sand after grain of sand.
 
the danger of possibility. it’s not a myth:
whales can explode under the right conditions.
a woman leans under my umbrella & says
get well soon to my body, bubbling open.

Taylor Garrison holds a BA in history from Muhlenberg College. She is a 2020 Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets fellow. Taylor's work can be found in the Adroit Journal, Sigma Tau Delta Rectangle, and elsewhere. Follow her at @taygarrs on Instagram or Twitter.
perhappened mag
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header photo: raimond klavins (unsplash)

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