The Vocation that has Chosen Me

by Holly Day

There will never be enough time to catalog

all of the dreams of the things in my yard

in my house: the fat squirrels that roost in the trees outside

the sparrows that peck at insects in the air conditioner

the mice that live behind my stove, the spider curled in wait

in the corner of my room.

They whisper their stories in Morse code raps

clicking mandibles and tiny, clawed feet, demanding

I stay up just one more hour, one more hour to trap

their thoughts with my pen, in words I can remember.

When I dream, it’s of dust mites and fleas

bits of cheese left out on the counter, the warmth

of the summer sun, an explosion of flowers

the songs of the stars and a terror

of vacuums. There will never be enough time

to transcribe my cat’s demands, the hopes and dreams

of the blind voles in my basement

all of these things I need to write.

* * * * *

Holly Day’s poetry has recently appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Grain, and The Tampa 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.