Gout
In the beginning,
the big toe
does most of the singing.
The whole foot can blow up, too,
getting to know you.
*
After years,
the little toe goes electric:
short intervals of merciless feedback.
*
Now three toes in the middle
slide wetly along the sharp pedal steel
of Confederate chawbacons.
Harrison Fisher has published twelve poetry titles since 1977; his full-length collections are Blank Like Me, Curtains for You, UHFO, and Poematics of the Hyperbloody Real. Fisher enjoyed a long hiatus from writing and publishing poems until 2022, and, in 2026, he has new work in ANTAE, BlazeVOX, Book of Matches, Eastern Iowa Review, Exacting Clam, Half Day Moon Journal, Misfitmagazine, and a number of other magazines. He is retired from public service and lives in upstate New York.