The Ghosts of Missing Animals

The sign behind the lighthouse
says sea otters used to live
in the kelp forest below until
accidental over-hunting made
them disappear. Now the sea
urchins run wild without
the otters to keep them at bay.
This majestic view—cliff, wave,
and sky—would be all the more
magical with a few otters at play,
slick bellies glinting at the sun.
I can almost see their ghosts
shining in the surf. I can almost
see your ghosts, too, reading
this sign with me and exclaiming
over everything: the otters, the water,
the lighthouse, our boys. I could
place another sign here—
The Ghosts of Missing Parents—
to explain how you also used to
come to this place, how you
would be here now if not for one
accident, a terrible moment.
How my grief runs wild
when I stand without you
and stare across the bay.

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Katie Manning is the founding editor-in-chief of Whale Road Review and a professor of writing at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. She is the author of Tasty Other, which won the 2016 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award, and her fifth chapbook, 28,065 Nights, is forthcoming from River Glass Books. Her poems have appeared in Glass, The Lascaux Review, Stirring, THRUSH, Verse Daily, and many other venues. Find her online at www.katiemanningpoet.com.