Turkey Vultures
Rent from DeepDyve- Turkey Vultures
Vultures are born without a voice,the fold that is the thrush's flute;they speak instead the language of the dead,a lax whistle through the open pipesof their throats as they circle low,and lower still.
Their name means tearer, and also purifier—through this rending, sun can dry the bones,leave them stacked on the shore.
There are at least ten,maybe a hundred in the ash trees;from the low bend in the Skagit,they look like fishermen.
Our boat: Charon's vessel, or the Khufu ship,curved cedar bow buried with a pharaoh,
or Naglfar, built from the dead'sfingernails, and weare parting tides to battle gods,their black wings bright as they allsuddenly rise. [End Page 137]
Kira Taylor is an environmental science graduate student at Western Washington University. She has current and forthcoming publications in Southern Humanities Review, Catamaran Literary Reader, and Tule Review. She lives in Gunnison, Colorado.
