Heavy heat of the day escapes
on stiff winds across the lake.
Wish-laden catfish lines, like sirens,
draw me away from campfire,
wine, and your whispers.
You stand ashore alone,
lantern held high as I push off.
While rowing, you fade
to a lighthouse on a bleak coast.
My flashlight finally finds
a tenuous streak of limp line.
Grasping for dreams,
line trembles, tightens
and the lake is fighting back,
bouncing the bow of the boat,
spraying my face with froth.
Dark, churning depths stretch
line toward nightmare.
Until the catfish is netted.
A wet grin crosses my face
as I remember your light
beckoning my return.
~ Kelly W. Johnston
Thomas Reynolds is an associate English professor at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, and has published poems in various print and online journals, including New Delta Review, Alabama Literary Review, Aethlon-The Journal of Sport Literature, Sport Literate, The MacGuffin, Flint Hills Review, and Prairie Poetry. Woodley Press of Washburn University published his poetry collection Ghost Town Almanac in 2008. His chapbook The Kansas Hermit Poems was published in 2013. His work has received two Pushcart Prize nominations.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 
Kelly–I liked this poem the first time I saw it. I like it even better now.