I have a bologna sandwich.
\nThe water slaps against the boat.
\nThe sun plays truant in the clouds.
\nKelley\u2019s Island is a dark line on the lake.
\nMy father, Reuben,
\nwhose name I never used,
\nbaits the line of my mother,
\nHenrietta,
\nwhose name I never used.<\/p>\n
My brother,
\nmy half soul,
\ntwin,
\ndouble star,
\nnascent moon,
\nfends for himself,
\nas I do
\nin the swell of the bay.
\nThe great stone of time has stopped,
\na wide presence.<\/p>\n
Reuben, how old is your son?
\nTen years? Eleven years?
\nI\u2019ve forgotten.
\nThe fish bite occasionally.
\nI am as old now as I was then.
\nI am in the middle of the milky way.
\nBetween oceans of stars,
\nthe russet orange of peaches
\non Catawba,
\nfalling like planets.<\/p>\n
Henrietta,
\nwhat moon rises from the water
\nfor you?
\nThe light is a gray curtain
\non your face.
\nYou seem in repose.
\nI want you to remember me.
\nCatch a fish.<\/p>\n
And Mick,
\nwhose name is as quick on my tongue
\nas my own.
\nWho decided our journey?
\nWhat remains of this place
\n60 years ago?
\nI am catching something on my line.
\nA perch has taken hold!
\nEveryone,
\nsee the fish!
\nA keeper.<\/p>\n
Pearl of green beauty,
\nkimono silk,
\nshaking on the line,
\ncold heartbeat in my hand.
\nYou fell back into the deep.
\nI finish my sandwich.
\nI want everything to live,
\nreturn to places they belong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have a bologna sandwich. The water slaps against the boat. The sun plays truant in the clouds. Kelley\u2019s Island is a dark line on…<\/p>\n