The Atlantic | June 2002 | Herons

Home
Current Issue
Back Issues
Premium Archive
Forum
Site Guide
Feedback
Search

Subscribe
Renew
Gift Subscription
Subscriber Help

Browse >>
  Books & Critics
  Fiction & Poetry
  Foreign Affairs
  Politics & Society
  Pursuits & Retreats

Subscribe to our free
e-mail newsletters

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.

What do you think? Discuss this article in Post & Riposte.

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).

Click here to start saving with ING DIRECT!