A Chinese Fishing Net

Death hangs
on the poles
at our bank.
A Chinese
fishing net
sinks down
with baits
to lure into
the fate.
Doom lurks
between the
darkness and
the blue.
Joys dry in the
breathless net
at dawn. As
care snoozes,
snare catches.

First published in The Literary Hatchet (Pear Tree Press)

*Chinese fishing nets hanging on poles on the bank are lowered and laid
at the bottom of the river at night, and lifted up with fish in the morning.