The Atlantic | June 2002 | Herons

Contents | June 2002

More on poetry from The Atlantic Monthly.

The Atlantic Monthly | June 2002

Herons

by Juan Carlos Galeano, translated by Angela Ball

.....

The fishermen who scale and gut their catch
find a river in the bellies of the fish.

In the river shines a beach where some boys play soccer.

Some herons come to the beach to take off their feathers and go for a swim.

The fishermen wink at the boys,
urging them to bathe with the herons.

But the boys prefer to hide the herons' clothes.

Then those who scale and gut their fish
laugh so hard they fall down, choking.

The herons dress themselves in the scales of the fish and dive into the river.

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Juan Carlos Galeano teaches Latin American poetry at Florida State University. His poems have appeared in Parnassus, TriQuarterly, and Ploughshares. The poet and translator Angela Ball teaches creative writing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her most recent collection is The Museum of the Revolution (1999).