“After the Fight” by Max McDonough

After the Fight

Never mind there is no place that is not this place. Begin 

with a landscape: fog hovers over the long bend of marsh.

I know.

Kayaks, a few—bright & docked—but there’s one rope 

vacant, its knotted end drifting in place in the slow current.

So someone (or two) must be out on the water at this strange hour 

of overflow, morning sheen, & muck. Come closer to me.

It’s my favorite thing, imagining the comings and goings.

& why. & why not. A destination intimates want. 

Put your hand on the back of my neck. The

mooring of your hand is what I want. 





Appears in Python with a Dog Inside It (Black Lawrence Press, 2025)

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Max McDonough is the author of Python with a Dog Inside It, winner of the St. Lawrence Book Award. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Best New Poets, T Magazine, AGNI, and elsewhere. He lives in Philadelphia.

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