Beach Eulogy
Violet Mitchell
I took a walk
on the bare beach
and apologized.
I let the ocean
chew on the sand
under my heels
and sink me
down and down
and I said I’m sorry.
She whispered
a wave. It was cold
but I let her paint
my ankles
in the blood
of shells
and fishbones.
I let goosebumps
carpet me. I let
her bury me
low until her
eyelashes were at
my stretch marks,
my thighs. We
are earth together,
I told her.
I leave toe ponds
for her, and leave my
fat gray heart
next to the skel-
etons she let me make.
Violet Mitchell is a Denver-based writer and artist. She earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in cognitive literary studies and is completing an MFA degree in creative writing, both from Regis University. Her work has been published in Heavy Feather Review, The Blue Route, Sixfold, Word for/ Word, ANGLES, Furrow, and several other journals. She received the Robert A. O’Sullivan, S.J. Memorial Award for Excellence in Writing in 2019.
