Another Day in Paradise

By Ann Farley

PROMPT — Joy is ...

Joy is disguised as a snoring cat on the bow

of a docked boat in a narrow channel,

front window crammed with spray bottles,

Windex and chemicals to fight mold.

Littering the deck: a toaster, cubbies straining

with cookware, boxes of crackers and cereal,

cans of soup, an unfinished quilt project.

A man bellows from the parking lot to his wife,

who is pulling potted plants and baskets

of clean and dirty clothes from the interior

to make room for the two delivery men waiting

to carry down a small refrigerator. Her husband

has forgotten his fob, needs her to come

open the gate, so she sets down a plant,

hefts and shifts her way on to the dock,

her husband calling sorry, sorry

with each labored step up the gangway.

She wheezes back okay, okay.

This is how they live, on an old boat in a slip

with no cover, and what will they do

when it rains, because rain or some other storm

is sure to come. But tonight they will sit together

on the padded deck bench and crack two cold ones

to celebrate, the cat curled between them.

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Ann Farley, an only child of two only children, learned at a very early age to entertain herself by making up stories and playing with words. Her poems have appeared in Peregrine, Timberline Review, Third Wednesday, Gobshite Quarterly, Willawaw, VerseWeaver, and others. Her chapbook, Tell Her Yes, was published in 2022. She writes from Beaverton, OR. Learn more about Ann at: www.annfarleypoetry.com