doing a tedious job just now
shredding fish for a potluck
casserole – I decided to think
a pleasant thought – an unbidden
one wasn’t pleasant: I was 7 or so
on a dock at a little wisconsin lake
a small boy at the end of the pier
flung back his fishing line prepared
to throw it again into the water his
hook snagged me right between the
nostrils just where you’d catch a fish
my mother said she’d never forget
seeing me stumbling along the path
to our cottage crying holding the pole
worm hanging below my chin a doctor
removed the hook gave me a shot
I’m planting a potato he said as he
brandished a needle I’ve not asked
potatoes but being planted must be
painful do they even need tetanus?
2020 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Redefining home.
