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“A Seagull Screams Overhead”

by Avery Shellist

I’m Avery, a junior art major. I mostly enjoy creating and drawing a multitude of cartoon characters, but occasionally I’ll branch out and do some writing. I don’t write poetry often, but when I do, expect it to be filled with hard-to-place, bizarre emotions.

By GOD

The duality of my Soul

Overtakes me like a salt-laden wave,

Sucking me down to a boneyard of pulverized seashells and coral skeletons.

I’ll lift my head from the water and gasp for a breath of enchanting femininity 

Before falling under again to a realm of staticky salt

That makes its way into my eyes and my throat.

I rise again,

My head stings with the sensation of masculinity.

A new hysteria grasps my chest,

A feeling that bites my lips with razor sharp teeth while it kisses me sweetly.

All the while the wind hisses chaos into my ears,

Burning through the hollow shell of my body.

I feel the salt, the wind, the sand

Creeping into the cracks of my exposed heart and ripping me in two.

My separating selves won’t stop asking questions 

“Am I a girl?”

“Am I a boy?”

“Am I anything at all?”

“Do I even matter?”

So many questions I don’t know how to answer.

I let myself crumble into the white-hot sand

Of ever-turning ambiguity