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Yaquina Bay, Newport, Oregon
Mark Thalman

Returning from deep sea fishing,
passengers step off the charter
with nothing to show
except sea sickness.

My sister, 7 years old,
dangles her line
and like a magician
pulls up a nice size salmon—
flopping and thumping
the dock.

They gawk, disgusted
a child can have such luck,
and walk past
with no fish to gut, wallets
already cleaned out.

—
Mark Thalman is the author of Stronger Than the Current, The Peasant Dance, and Catching the Limit. His poems have appeared in the Paterson Review, The MacGuffin, and Pedestal Magazine among many others. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon. Thalman retired from the public schools after teaching English and Creative Writing for 35 years. He lives in Forest Grove, Oregon.

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