When my hands touched the sun
Scout Clancy Batreau
__________
When I was younger,
not yet in school,
my father was cleaning the fishtank
and our goldfish had to momentarily reside
in the stained washing up bowl.
I was warned not to touch him
but I found my small uncontrolled hands
stroking his body beneath the surface,
a Lilliputian sun dancing through my fingers.
Imagine it;
my fingers laced with such brightness
in that house where gloom shook hands with the damp.
__________
Scout Clancy Batreau and their childhood dog, Muffy.
__________
Scout Clancy Batreau is a disabled writer living on the coast of Ireland, fueled by black coffee and Bowie. When not writing they can be found befriending any stray animal they cross paths with. You can find their work in the likes of Star*Line and Mini Plays Review among others, and they were shortlisted in the Dark Poets Prize 2025.
__________
To learn more about submitting your work to Boudin or applying to McNeese State University’s Creative Writing MFA program, please visit Submissions for details.
Posted in Third Annual Pet Writing Contest and tagged in #boudin, #poetry, Poetry