Bedtime Story

The boatyard is deserted;

slips empty, save the few holding

 

boats wrapped in tarp & covered for

winter. The last leaves cringing in piles or

 

swept into crevices

will soon be dust. Father, you read,

 

stiltingly, with earnest difficulty,

a child’s book to me, one line

 

at a time, describing this thing. It was

about death. Everything is about death.

 

I trace my hands against the uneven

deck. A nervous habit. The Sun will be

 

going down now. The Moon

will be rising. I have outlasted

many. The boats sleep in their slips.

Emily Hockaday

Emily Hockaday is author of three chapbooks: Ophelia: A Botanist’s Guide (Zoo Cake Press), What We Love and Will Not Give Up (Dancing Girl Press), and Starting a Life (Finishing Line Press). Her work has appeared in journals including the North American Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Newtown Literary, West Wind Review, and others. She is assistant editor of the science fiction magazines Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov’s Science Fiction. She can be found online at www.emilyhockaday.com or @E_Hockaday.

Contributions by Emily Hockaday