Fisher's Club

A roadside inn. Lakeside dive. Spiffed up.

End of a summer day. And I suppose

I should be smiling beneficently

at the families playing near the shore,

their plastic balls and splashes and chatter.

 

But my eye pivots left to a couple;

he is carrying her into the water.

He's strong enough, and she is light

enough to be carried. I see

how she holds her own, hugging

his neck, his chest steady as his arms.

 

I have never seen such a careful dunk,

half-dunk, as he gives her. That beautiful

play he makes lifting her from the water.

 

And I suppose I should be admiring

the sunset, all purple and orange and rose now.

Nice porch here, too. Yeah, great view.

 

But I have never seen such a loving

carrying as he gives her. Imagine

 

being so light as to float

above water in love.

Offering

She tells him she's leaving him and he

bakes a pie. His pies are exquisite,

their crusts like crinoline.

He doesn't change clothes, works

in slacks, shirtsleeves rolled.

Summer makes the kitchen unbearable

but he suffers beautifully, tenderly

cuts the strawberries, pours

into the deep curve of the bowl.

She hadn't missed his hands since

last they drew her to his body.

Now she watches them stroke the edges

of the dough, shape it like cooling glass.

When the oven opens, his brow drips,

he brings his hands to his face.

Delivered

She lived there for years in a

small space in a high rise that saw

her winter years dawn. When the past

became larger than her present,

she would call and thank us for cards

we gave her when we were small;

for Christmas, Mother's Day, her birthday,

our devotion scrawled amidst depictions

of crooked hearts and lopsided lilies.

She would write out new ones,

and we found them everywhere—unsent;

in perfect cursive she wished us joy,

chains of x's and o's circling her signature.

And when her time alone was over,

the space emptied of all but sunshine, dust,

and a cross nailed above her door,

those cards held for us a bitter peace;

they had finally been delivered.