Mermaid by Sandy Benitez

She knows only the ocean;
its wild, mischievous ways.
The haunting cries of seagulls
beckon her to sing 
of the pale glow of light houses;
the lives lost at sea.  
Gray, bloated bodies bob 
atop the waves like buoys
as boats and freighters drift by.
Tonight, again, as she has for years,
she will mourn their passing alone.
Her voice melancholic 
as whale song.

Sandy's latest chapbook, The Lilac City, was published by Origami Poems Project.  Her most recent work has been published in Red Eft Review, Plum Tree Tavern, Dead Snakes, The Artistic Muse: Pohemians, and Houseboat.