Flounder

    by Natasha Trethewey

    Here， she said， put this on your head.

    She handed me a hat.

    you 'bout¹ as white as your dad，

    and you gone stay like that.

    Aunt Sugar rolled her nylons down

    around each bony ankle，

    and I rolled down my white knee socks

    letting my thin legs dangle²，

    circling them just above water

    and silver backs of minnows

    flitting here then there between

    the sun spots and the shadows.

    This is how you hold the pole

    to cast the line out straight.

    Now put that worm on your hook，

    throw it out and wait.

    She sat spitting tobacco juice

    into a coffee cup.

    Hunkered down when she felt the bite，

    jerked the pole straight up

    reeling and tugging³ hard at the fish

    that wriggled⁴ and tried to fight back.

    A flounder， she said， and you can tell

    'cause one of its sides is black.

    The other is white， she said.

    It landed with a thump⁵.

    I stood there watching that fish flip-flop，

    switch sides with every jump.