“We Spent the Holiday Fishing” by Jennifer Buda

Or, I spent it watching you

while I got tan on a board nearby

and drank a beer that I found

when I was in college

thinking I was in love

because someone who liked me or just

was like me

drank the same one

on a different lake

Now, I watch you filet your catch

while explaining to me how

I want to curve around the belly

to save time on scaling

and to point the knife down

to protect myself

You rub the hump on their heads

that make them look distinguished

and whisper an apology to one

who still had its eggs

I rub my own forehead

and you kiss it

Jennifer Buda is a poet living in Michigan whose work examines intimate moments with restrained observation. Her writing has recently appeared in Poetic Reveries, the East Lansing Art Festival Poetry Journal (10th and 11th editions), Half and One Magazine, and is forthcoming in poetry anthologies from Folly, Beyond Words Magazine, and The National Poetry Centre.