Summer Fish
written by: Carrie Magness Radna
In the summertime,
we are freshly caught fish,
wrapped around tight in the
oppressive net of heat & humidity.
Summer makes our brains stupid,
tailored-made for any siesta
after we mow the lawn.
Sweating hard,
we breathe in languid rhymes,
we glide like baby eels
swimming in flotsam & jetsam.
Go ahead, my sweethearts—
If you want sustenance,
stud us with sunflowers, rosemary sprigs,
poppy seeds, slivered almonds,
garlic cloves & tomatoes.
Don’t let us broil for too long—
Or, if you want us still alive,
set us free by the pool.
Our tails wag freely
as the chlorine
tickles our noses.
We need to feast
on fresh watermelon
to bring our temperature down.
Pretty as sushi rolls,
we take the evening by storm
as the town lights up.
Carrie Magness Radna is an audiovisual cataloger at the New York Public Library, a choral singer and a poet who loves to travel. Her poems have previously appeared in The Oracular Tree, Mediterranean Poetry, Muddy River Poetry Review, Spillwords.com, Poetry Super Highway, Shot Glass Journal (Muse-Pie Press), Vita Brevis, Home Planet News, Cajun Mutt Press, Walt’s Corner, Polarity eMagazine, The Poetic Bond (VIII-X), Alien Buddha Press, Jerry Jazz Musician, Rye Whiskey Review, Litterateur RW and First Literary Review-East. Her first poetry collection, Hurricanes never apologize (Luchador Press) was published in December 2019. Her new poetry collection In the blue hour (Nirala Publications), was published in February 2021. She won Honorable Mention Award twice, for “all trains are haunted” (Non-rhyming poetry: 2019) and “May (a Pantoum)” (Rhyming poetry: 2021) in Writer’s Digest Writer’s Competition. Born in Norman, Oklahoma, she now lives with her husband in Manhattan, New York.
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