Ben Cooper

Fearsome Critters: Fur-Bearing Trout

“It started with skin—
fur, scales, outerness”
—Sarah Brockhaus

What if you drew me­­
from the water, your hand still

red from the recall
of the stream’s shifting

bed. What if the stones
you were searching for

had already softened
each other into silt. What if

you got everything you know from the rain
on the ground, the morning light dripping

through the fog. What if my skin, uncertain
of what it wants to be, remembers

scales. What if I’ve forgotten
how the outside all around us

feels. What if I want to feel.
What if fur was made for the wind

to lighten it. And what if you want
to remember where

you found me. What if you made me
from some arcane form

of knowing, some animal
memory of birds unable

to pick fur from the folds
of their beaks. What if

you need me more than I
need you.

Ben Cooper is a poet studying creative writing at Salisbury University. He is the winner of the 2025 AWP Intro Journals Award, works as a Managing Editor at 149 Review, and is published or forthcoming in Colorado Review, The Penn Review, The Shore, Atlanta Review, Saranac Review, Frontier Poetry, and more.