Lobster Trap

By GARY J. WHITEHEAD

Then our hearts grew claws
and we lived in a cold reach,
twice-a-day tides, 
the lows and the highs, 
and we were drawn to our desires
salted and seeping from a bag.
What we thought was happiness
was set and tied and marked
in a rocking up above us,
one end a buoy,
colored and numbered,
the other end a cage.
And because all work 
demands a wage, 
we walked along the bottom
toward the funnel of the future,
in through the wide end
and out through the narrow,
and found ourselves in a kitchen
and then a parlor,
where we waited, 
hungry still,
to be lifted.

[Purchase Issue 21 here.] 

 

Gary J. Whitehead’s most recent books are Strange What Rises and A Glossary of Chickens.

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Lobster Trap

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