Starving

I reach into the river

for a fish
like an Indian

she smiles

lightning precedes thunder

Laughter and rain
fall over and on me

I take her hand
she
pulls
it
back

runs away

across a meadow
into a cornfield

I watch
it unfold

like a silent movie

that's not
happening to me

in slow motion

and don’t understand

why I can’t
grab a fish
out of the river

for her

throw it back and

catch a bigger one