Netting dace
‘I remember’ said my father, 'when you could
Drive a coach & horses between that monument
And the river bank.' But now the obelisk
With its wrought-iron, ornamental railing
Lies on its side six feet under water, memorial
To the boy who drowned. The river has eaten
The earth, and snapped the nameless stone
In its wet jaws... I passed it thirty years
Ago, wading through grass to the flood pools
Where trapped dace were quick brown shadows. Caught
In my net their freshly minted silver bellies
Flashed in the sun, better than coins in my pocket.
But they were belly-up and dead by morning
In my aquarium; tarnished by my hands.
Drive a coach & horses between that monument
And the river bank.' But now the obelisk
With its wrought-iron, ornamental railing
Lies on its side six feet under water, memorial
To the boy who drowned. The river has eaten
The earth, and snapped the nameless stone
In its wet jaws... I passed it thirty years
Ago, wading through grass to the flood pools
Where trapped dace were quick brown shadows. Caught
In my net their freshly minted silver bellies
Flashed in the sun, better than coins in my pocket.
But they were belly-up and dead by morning
In my aquarium; tarnished by my hands.
Page(s) 12
magazine list
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- Lamport Court
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- Pen Pusher Magazine
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- Poetry Salzburg Review
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- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
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- Shearsman
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- Staple
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- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
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