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Angler's Nightmare
He thinks the fish
he landed,
the huge stripe bass’ eye
sees a monster’s face,
a demon with soft hands of fire
that boils its slick body
in the acid of air
with a tease
from the hook’s barb
that now knits
the gasping jaw closed.
He imagines himself
such beautiful meat
with a cruel demise,
no longer privy
to the love and seclusion
of the black emptiness
from which he was snatched.
He places the rod
upon the sand
and enters the ocean
until he can taste the salt
then asks the tide
to mend all wounds
on the motionless flesh
in his extinguished hands,
that it might again
have life
and return to the bounty
of the cold world
in the dark coral depths
where this bass
might then dream of him
in the bottomless sea,
of his hands
and his sorrowful blue eyes.
Michael Keshigian: Most recently, Michael's work has appeared in Bellowing Ark, Sierra Nevada College Review,
Chantarelle's Notebook; Boston Literary Magazine, and California Quarterly, among other written and online
journals. He has 2 Pushcart Prize nominations, a Best Of The Net nomination and has had 6 chapbooks published.
He is a performing musician and college educator in Boston.
Email: Michael Keshigian
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