The rib boats are painted red and orange for a reason. That combination tickles the vision for safety, easier location during capsize situations, well-insulated bodies tumbling into Arctic waters. It happens. The captain cancels tours when swells enter the mouth of the inlet. And people complain and demand a refund and stomp into restaurants and lodge complaints about locals eating puffins. The chocolate brownie isn’t sweet enough, the sky’s the wrong color, the village smells too much like fish. I’m happy he canceled. The pain in my lower back prompts me to enquire about clinics and hospitals. Just in case. There’s always tomorrow when the sea has settled down and the whales never knew there was a problem.

John Dorroh has never fallen into an active volcano, nor has he caught a hummingbird. However, he did manage to bake bread with Austrian monks and drink a healthy portion of their beer. Five of his poems were nominated for Best of the Net. Others have appeared in over 100 journals, including Feral, North of Oxford, River Heron, Wisconsin Review, Kissing Dynamite, and El Portal.  He had two chapbooks published in 2022.