Author’s Note: “By way of “Tall Tales” here’s to the old love of being there for my wife’s visit to the doctor’s office with other quite talkative partners-in-waiting, and the once new love of high school along with the grace of my girlfriend’s parent—who, admittedly, I liked to sit with on the dock while fishing perhaps more than I liked my girlfriend.”
Tall Tales
Bud and Joe talk of fishing,
While I hide behind my book
In the physician’s waiting room,
Where you can either bait a hook
And cast your line into
The lake of conversation,
Or stay lost in any story
But of her sickness.
I lower the book and tell
Of how I once snagged a bale
Of hay instead of the big
Bottom-feeding catfish
We all thought I had on my hook
Back in high school, dockside
Sitting cross-legged beside my
Girlfriend’s mom, Marylin Cotton,
A nighttime fisherwoman par excellence,
Who once caught us in bed.
⧫
King Grossman’s poems and short prose have appeared in Crack the Spine, The Round, Forge, Tiger’s Eye, Qwerty, Burningword, Ignatian, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Midwest Quarterly, The Borfski Review, and others. His novel, Letters To Alice, received several literary awards. He lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. with his wife Lisa, his dog Bogart, and a sun conure parrot named Sunny.
Delmarva Review publishes compelling new poetry, short stories, and nonfiction selected from thousands of fine writers annually. Located in St. Michaels, MD, the literary journal has featured the new writing of 550 authors worldwide during its 16-year history. About half are from the Chesapeake and Delmarva region. It is available in paperback and digital from major online booksellers and from specialty bookstores. Support comes from tax-deductible contributions and a grant from Talbot Arts with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. Website: www.DelmarvaReview.org
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