Metaphor of the Vultures

Like a thousand rotting corpses, a woman
in West Palm Beach is quoted in the news,

describing the excrement deposited by
a wake of vultures invading patios 

and poolsides of wealthy people's multi-
million dollar vacation homes. Their vomit 

contributes to the stench: but this is 
apparently what they do, almost as though 

afflicted with bulimia, to make themselves 
lighter for flight. You wonder what tanned

bodies they found stretched out on deck 
chairs, recently oiled and primed with 

expensive sunscreen— But perhaps they 
were already dead, since National Geographic 

says vultures rarely attack living or healthy 
animals? It's so unreal you'd laugh out loud,

imagining these dark-robed birds, gaunt 
justices screaming Metaphor, metaphor, metaphor! 

before beaks come down like gavels, drill  
expertly into bones, and marbled fat streams out.