My Father Dying by Doug Tanoury

In the gulls cry I can remember
My father’s voice and recall his smell
In the coolness of air drifting off

The lake that lay translucent green
Like the jade backs of crayfish
Its surface still and the only motion

A black-hulled lake freighter that
Travels the horizon like a body being
Wheeled down a hall on a gurney

The glint of sunlight that stretches
Across the surface is the silver tails
Of minnows swimming in schools

And the glassiness of his eyes as he
Falls into a stillness where unmoving
He becomes without wind or waves

The lake where mahogany earthworms
And ebony leeches are bait
For stained-glass bluegills



Doug Tanoury, grew up in Detroit and still lives in the area with his wife and three children.

Doug has been published in Writer's Digest, Ego Flights Alura Quarterly and A Year On The Avenue (Two Dog Press). Online he has been published by The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Eclectica, Poetry Magazine, Agnieszka's Dowry, Recursive Angel, The Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks and others.

The greatest influence on Doug and his work was the 7th grade poetry anthology used in Sister Debra's English class: Reflections On A Gift Of

Watermelon Pickle And Other Modern Verse, Stephen Dunning, Edward Lueders and Hugh Smith, (c)1966 by Scott Foresman & Company.

Athens Avenue Poetry Circle at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6915/

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