At its center is an intimate, almost uneasy moment. The speaker addresses a woman who is trying to compose herself, even attempting to light a smile, but she has not moved a man’s hands from her breasts. The touch continues in slow circles, so the scene hovers between arousal, memory, and disconnection. The gulls simile is striking: the hands become white-bellied birds, tight and wheeling, which makes the caress feel delicate yet tense, even cold. The voice sounds watchful—maybe possessive, maybe wounded—noticing what she has failed to let go of. The mood is fragile and exposed: a naked body, a forced smile, and a lingering touch that will not quite end. It leaves the reader with the feeling of a private moment caught between closeness and performance.
The Gulls — Summary
You forgot to remove his hands still stroking your breasts in slow circles
like gulls, white bellies tight, as you so naked tried to light a smile.