Kortney Garrison

The Fisherman's Cottage

—after a painting by Harald Sohlberg

The fisherman’s tempered

happiness drained away

after meager fish runs

and accidents always

waiting on the other side

of attention.

Still, birch sap will run

crisp and subtle as the year

warms. His nets will yearn

to be mended.

Tonight, he stirs clams

and wild fennel into soup.

Kortney Garrison is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Elemental and Every Broken Year. She lives at the confluence of the Willamette River and the mighty Columbia where she homeschools her children and teaches humanities.