"Pollution," by Karen Stromberg

Dear God,

I want you to know

I feel so much better

since I cleaned the fish tank.

Every time I saw them

sucking at the surface

like a row of tenors,

my guilt was immense,

as you can imagine.

I had to remind myself

they are just fish

and cannot manage

their own contamination.

Karen Stromberg was raised in Michigan but fled to California. She favors the short poem, flash fiction, the ten-minute play. She has worked as a children’s librarian and taught short-form poetry in an online summer camp for kids. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her work can be found online at qarrtsiluni, Pedestal Magazine, and Red River Review. “Pollution” was published in her first collection Walking with Ducks, published by Caernarvon Press, and is used by permission. Author’s photo by John Bosley.