Phantom shiner
There is a world& we are beneath it.Swollen with chickens& the hum of satellites,it is all noisedisguised as alphabet.Silently, I spook the citizensof the stream drift,scattering the prismatic eggsof the silvery minnows,dodging the prodding tonguesof the sandhill cranes,the hordes of rainbow troutmired in a gloss of sewage.Blurred spirits comb the water,scraps of worm tied to their poles.The ending is endless& no words can grasp it.Not border, limit, or margin.Not coda, curtain, or fin.
Feature Date
- August 25, 2024
Series
Selected By
Share This Poem
Print This Poem
“Phantom shiner” from EXTINCTION STUDIES: by Matthew Tuckner.
Published by Sixth Finch in 2024.
Copyright © 2024 by Matthew Tuckner.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Matthew Tuckner received his MFA in Creative Writing at NYU and is currently a PhD student in English/Creative Writing at University of Utah, where he edits Quarterly West. His debut collection of poems, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is forthcoming from Four Way Books. His chapbook, Extinction Studies, is the winner of 2023 Sixth Finch Chapbook Prize. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in AGNI, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, The Nation, The Adroit Journal, and Best New Poets, among others.
Poetry Daily Depends on You
With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.
