TROUT   [ 2 ]


Macau, 1897

It is a traveller's habit,
finding the familiar in the new.
Security in discovery.
We met an Englishwoman
on the island; she warned
of skewers and mickey finns.
Outside the monsoon rain
muffles all sound. I listen
for rats, know they listen for me.
The lithograph is a mirror, the air
too opaque to allow me to pass
from one room to another.
So I remain, uncertain
what to take, what to leave behind.



Brian Flaherty
   © 1997


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