The live ones
quick, pop out
_ _of sand holes of their own
_ _crazy-making.
They dig (and
when the sand
_ _is wet) roll sand balls
into piles, a semi-circle
_ _around their hole-door.
In the same way
it’s a ghostly thing, really,
_ _the way they blow
end over end, lightweight
_ _and dead.
Emily Scudder has published two poetry collections, Feeding Time (Pecan Grove Press, 2011) and A Change of Pace(Finishing Line Press, 2007), and a chapbook,_ Natural Instincts_ (Finishing Line Press, 2008). Her poems have appeared in AGNI Online, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Jabberwock Review, Mamazine.com, Harvard Review, and elsewhere. She received a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and works as a library assistant and an activist in the Harvard Union of Clerical & Technical Workers. She lives with her husband and two children in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (updated 7/2011)