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Column 589

Fisher's Club

Intro by Ted Kooser
07.03.2016

We hope that you will vis­it, from time to time, our archived columns at www​.amer​i​can​lifein​po​et​ry​.org, where you may find oth­er poems by the poets we fea­ture. Today’s is the third we’ve pub­lished by Sharon Chmielarz. a Min­neso­ta poet with sev­er­al fine books in print, includ­ing The Wid­ow’s House, just released by Brighthorse books. 

Fisher's Club

A roadside inn. Lakeside dive. Spiffed up.
End of a summer day. And I suppose
I should be smiling beneficently
at the families playing near the shore,
their plastic balls and splashes and chatter.
 
But my eye pivots left to a couple;
he is carrying her into the water.
He's strong enough, and she is light
enough to be carried. I see
how she holds her own, hugging
his neck, his chest steady as his arms.
 
I have never seen such a careful dunk,
half-dunk, as he gives her. That beautiful
play he makes lifting her from the water.
 
And I suppose I should be admiring
the sunset, all purple and orange and rose now.
Nice porch here, too. Yeah, great view.
 
But I have never seen such a loving
carrying as he gives her. Imagine
 
being so light as to float
above water in love.
 

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We do not accept unsolicited submissions

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2015 by Sharon Chmielarz, “Fisher's Club,” from The Widow's House (Brighthorse Books, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Sharon Chmielarz and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.