Produced by Dennis Camire

This week’s poem is by Jefferson Navicky of Freeport. His most recent book is “The Paper Coast,” published by Spuyten Duyvil Press.

 

Chest poem

By Jefferson Navicky

 

In the house that lives in my chest

there’s a long sloping hallway

and there’s an owl in the kitchen

who serves me cocktails

high in juice for breakfast.

You’d think I’d be happy

but I spend a lot of time

gazing down to the river

which I’ve only now realized

is a ribbon wrapped around

a certain landscape of waiting.

 

There’s a fish whose name I can’t remember

who lives in this river, a bottom feeder

with a hairy face and a desire to get caught

but nobody seems to be able

to find a way to do the obvious.

These days I hear a lot of talk

about currents and wind and the right

lure to hook the big fish

the bait that allows a big

reel in and if not a trophy

then at least a spot at the table.

But this is not that story. This is

a story of a house and a fish

whose name I cannot know.

I will never be the one to hook him

 

Dennis Camire can be reached at dcamire@cmcc.edu

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