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Submission Guidelines: Send 1-3 unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com. No simultaneous submissions. Use "Verse News Submission" as the subject line. Send a brief bio. No payment. Authors retain all rights after 1st-time appearance here. Scroll down the right sidebar for the fine print.

Wednesday, August 09, 2023

AT THE MAINE LOBSTER FESTIVAL

by Jake Murel


Maine Lobster Festival, August 2-6, 2023


Click, clack, clock, go calling claws

Of arthropods in steel-cage cells,

Clambering en masse to escape the maw

Boiling broth, bubbling hell.

 

Snap, snip, clip, cameras click,

Twice-captured crustaceans, cowering each

Jostled and jumping, tossing kicks

Against suffering steam in seething screech.

 

Crack, crick, creek, shells break

With silent shrieks in summer sun

As tourists taste torture that makes

Lobster death-camp fun.



Jake Murel is a private individual and, as such, does not enjoy biographical statements. His own poetry has appeared in The Journal of Formal Poetry, The Lyric, and many other venues.