The house groans as the wind tries to rip it apart
tugs at its loose shingles and the ancient tar paper beneath
finds its way through the cracks in the rough window frames
rattles and rustles the plastic taped around the sills.
We groan as we hear the places our house is succumbing
run our hands along the tape that holds the plastic to the windowsills
worry about the noises in the attic, pray for tiny mice and not squirrels
or pigeons who have found their way in through some hole not yet discovered.
Holly Day’s poetry has recently appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Grain, and Harvard Review. Her newest poetry collections are In This Place, She Is Her Own (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), A Wall to Protect Your Eyes (Pski’s Porch Publishing), Folios of Dried Flowers and Pressed Birds (Cyberwit.net), Where We Went Wrong (Clare Songbirds Publishing), Into the Cracks (Golden Antelope Press), and Cross Referencing a Book of Summer (Silver Bow Publishing), while her newest nonfiction books are Music Theory for Dummies and Tattoo FAQ.