The Spider, The Lion, and The Elephant Fish

Written By Amanda Barusch
In Dunedin, New Zealand, St Clair's Beach promenade looks out over the ocean.

Image from Trip Advisor

It was a blustery day and I found this poem on the beach.

 

St. Clair, 2015

Sea froth skips the jetty

in this wind, a hopeless umbrella

rests in the rubbish bin,

its jagged spokes not unlike

a black widow.

While it scrambles to escape

I hug my espresso—

toast and his daughter

close at hand.

Strolling, she said if she jumped high

the wind would carry her out to sea,

and I said “Oh! No!”

So she settled for little skips, and “Look

at that-and-that-and-that-and-that!”

I held her hand tight,

then yelled,

“And that!”

Lounging on the jetty, a lazy lion, his

fur festooned in froth.

Waiting for him at our fish & chips café,

where the wine is delicious,

the chalk board offers Fresh Elephant Fish,

and a boy in a bunny hat is about to—

the bell trembles and he fills the room

with an ambiguous grin.

I brush froth from his cheek and

he asks, “How was your day?”

Amanda Barusch

Amanda Barusch has worked as a janitor, exotic dancer, editor, and college professor. She lives in the American West, where she spends as much time as possible on dirt paths. She has an abiding disdain for boundaries and adores ambiguity. Amanda has published eight books of non-fiction, a few poems, and a growing number of short stories. Aging Angry is her first work of creative non-fiction. She uses magical realism to explore deep truths of the human experience in this rapidly changing world.

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