Man or Mouse

My father remembers
rabid dog, shotgun,
cherry pies
at the rez store
with finger holes
poked into cellophane,
diaphanous salmon
seizing as they fly upriver.

Summer is gone.
What good is my father,
or any of it,
his troop leader
screaming
are you man or mouse?
to the naked boys
running through the camp

to wash in the river,
the sky throwing shadows
to trick them
like the tree line at dusk
on the last hot day
and when I ask if it’s worth
one broken fuck,
nobody can say.

Sarah Bokich’s work has appeared in Cloudbank, The Timberline Review, VoiceCatcher, and others. Her chapbook Rocking Chair at the End of the World was published in 2017 by Finishing Line Press.  She lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.