Alan S. Kleiman

Alan S. Kleiman
 
ONCE IN AWHILE
 
By the old dock
Near the bridge
On the side where they kept the sailboats
Opposite the fishing fleet
The lobster catch was emptied into the old shack
and sorted by weight
Once in a while a big old one got caught
Maybe 30 years old or more
And they’d keep it around for its special value
Until someone would come in
Wanting to buy it
Or just because it was there
Wanting to buy it
And then it was gone
Killed off and eaten
As if it were a common animal
Instead of a something
And then the place returned to being
Just a lobster shack
With maybe a 4 pounder or so
On a good day.
 
 
 
Alan S. Kleiman’s chapbook, Grand Slam, is forthcoming from Crisis Chronicles Press. His poetry appears in Verse Wisconsin, The Criterion, Right Hand Pointing, Camel Saloon, Fringe, The Montucky Review and many other journals and magazines. His poems are in anthologies published by Fine Line Press and Red Ocher Press. He lives and works in New York City.