Something's Fishy

Here is a new poem by Troutmeister Mike O'Neil.

PISCATORIAL CORRECTNESS

It seems so goddam exclusionary and elitist,
That the Catch and Release bunch,
Should shine their holy light on trout and salmon,
And ignore—nay—denigrate by exclusion,
The other fish who share the same waters.

I was taught as a boy to throw the chubs and suckers,
And others of their ilk, up onto the bank,
To rid the stream of such trash—
To let them die in a cruel deprivation of their primal elements—
“How else should one treat junk fish?

I never thought of them as a part of the grand,
Pesce scheme of things, though surely GOD
Made them, as he too fashioned the pretty ones.
As I trudge slowly towards decrepitude, the common fish seem,
More valuable for their balancing and presence.

The clumsy grandeur of huge Podunk River carp,
Slowly vacuuming offerings of day old bread,
Thrown to them in the sluggish muddy waters,
By boys of a certain age,
Is as exciting to me as the scarlet flash of a lunging rainbow.

Boreegard

July 7, 2009