i won't die without you.

Moving boxes, trying to prepare for the storm.
Watched a girl dismember reptiles.
First, a turtle, whose shell she took
completely off with the legs still twisting.
Then, two other creatures torn beyond recognition,
Shivering and gasping in spite their missing limbs.
I said to her, "throw them away,
or end them quickly."
And my relatives all laughed at my sensitivity,
telling me over and over
how wrong it was, a woman crying for reptiles
while overhead clouds gather in a way
impossible to drive from.