My Brother Buys a Colony

Abstract

My Brother Buys a Colony Kelsey Day (bio) The female flea begins laying eggs two days afterher first blood meal. She salivates while thesky-skin warms. She dies six times a year, muddywith capstar bleach & claw. My brother holds my head beneath thepearl-drunk grasses, pressing my nose intoan ant colony. If I let my eyes unfocus, I can seefleas jump between the folds of grass.They flee toward the scar-bright wounds overhead,looking for a place to burrow. When I was three I let go of the side of the pooland sank calmly to the bottom. Mom saysI stared up at their water-eaten faces, unbothered. Down here, it's always another litter, another host-beastlaying eggs in the wounds. My mouth covers thesand hives & the larvae in the water, an open kiss:new limbs, old food chainsa hand on the back of my neck. [End Page 95] Kelsey Day Kelsey Day is a poet and fiction writer from southern Appalachia. They are the author of two poetry collections, The Last Four Years and Rootlines. You can read more of their writing at www.kelseydays.com, on Twitter @kelseydaywrites, and on Instagram @kelseydays. Copyright © 2022 Berea College ...