Poetry: Making Friends at the Jubilee by C. Morgenrede
Making Friends at the Jubilee
“want to come stick-poking for crabs and eel with me at the Municipal Fairhope Pier?”
the neighbors are beach hopping with beach fleas and dried out tunicates,
the old wise fisherman carves a threatening cobra head
into the end of a family shillelagh as he watches over the scene;
“if you don’t get a nibble, just use fresh clickbait;
an old japanese woman on the dock hosing off her french bulldog,
the white magma measuring station reeking of afternoon catch, and
down in the dirty, browned muck are muskrat bones and boonie hats;
“watch ‘em now, pelican’s ‘bout to dive, don’t let it grab yer gooblet;”
inside the family tackle box you can find
worm-like plastic crawlers filled with glitter,
silver treble hooks, jigging lures,
and the smell of aged salt;
“tell ya what son, every piece of the animal is worth a lil somethin’ somethin’”
low oxygen,
under the water,
frozen charlottes,
broken red and white bobbers,
La Raie (1728) by Jean Simeon Chardin
“if you really want a bite, you should just use a cut-up hotdog”
begin the seaside ritual, in-laws and schoolmates wait with nets to
catch stingrays and flounders washing up on the beach with their
expanded swim bladders and night swim eyes bulging from their sockets;
grandad and granddaughter on shore, pointed ike jime spike backhanded into brain cavity;
“well dang mister puffer fish, you’re not scary, you’re just ugly;”
9th grade track star with one hand missing keeps an eye on hispile of chum;
two old men chasing each other try to shove minnows inside the other guy’s pants;
sun down, Arab uncle telling his nephews (with matching poles) to real it on in;
“does this haircut make me look fat?”
“no dad, that haircut makes you look old.”
C. Morgenrede is from the mid-south. He recently published a poetry collection entitled ABUSER, which is available at Pig Roast Publishing. Follow him on Twitter: @metadegenerate
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