Opening Day

A day apart

from all others

set aside

full of promise

anticipation

not warm summer

nor wet spring

but between

That singular day

you, the fisherman

I, the fish

first cast

first catch

Laying on

damp grass

gasping

out of my element

under sparkling

rainbow light

my underbelly

creamy soft

against the hard

of your blade

slitting my vent

gutting me

Limp as death

you dropped me

into your creel

for safekeeping

I exulted

knowing myself

a trophy

never suspecting

you would bait up

and keep casting

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Yvette Flaten

Yvette Viets Flaten, (Eau Claire, WI) writes award-winning fiction and poetry. She enjoys the outdoors, cooking, reading, and she makes a point to write every day, following Sinclair Lewis’ advice to “make black marks on white paper.” Her recent work has appeared in Blue Heron Review, Nightingale and Sparrow, Silver Birch Press, Barstow and Grand, and North Dakota Quarterly.