Pacific City Dory Fleet

By: Molly Mayhead

Fishermen in hip waders and denim

perforate the surf’s edge swapping

stories of the one that got away,

push their dories from sand into sea, muted

reds, blues, browns, exotic insects suspended

in undulating aquatic resin

to bring home sea’s treasure. Men with

crumpled grocery bag faces and shadowed

eyes look beyond the horizon, captain boats

Penny Jo, Sally, Carpe Diem,

Smooth Sailing, Sweet Spot, The Limit—

a confessional of lovers and possibility.

When saline mist dismisses the sun

dories hurl themselves onto the sand,

a stampede at water’s fringe, damp

wood confetti celebrating the Cape. As I

watch the fishermen hitch their boats

to trailers and drive away I know

we all return to the sea.

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Molly Mayhead, Professor Emerita of Communication Studies at Western Oregon University, taught for 31 years there before retiring in 2019. She holds an M.A. in Speech Communication from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in Speech Communication from Penn State. She began studying and writing poetry in 2023 after an accident limited her mobility. She lives on a 5-acre tree farm with her husband in the foothills of the Oregon coast.