Greenport 2020: on the shore of Long Beach Bay

          roy herndon smith

a small grey-backed shark lay dead
white belly up
on the mottled gravel

gulls had torn the gills
and anal orifice
into ragged dark holes

in a vivid memory 
of sleek grace curving through
the clear shallows 

the sweet stink of rotting flesh
dissipated in
the salty stillness