Stephen Kilmer Poet Narrative

Mess of Fish

Two young boys and an old man in a metal fishing boat
Got a mess of crappie poles and strings
Headed for the camp house gonna’ fry up a mess of fish
Roll them in flour and cornbread and hit the pan a sizzling.
Momma going to holler to clean up that mess
Grease is a popping and the old man is drinking beer
Once they get them fish nice an hot they lay them out on newspaper
And let it soak up the grease while they wait for them to cool down
Buddy likes to eat the fins first they are nice and crispy but Beaux goes for the meat
And don’t care nothing about the bones
The old man keeps drinking beer and laughing at the boys
Remembering when he was a kid and fish was all they had to eat
But nothing feels better than blood on blood and they drift away into the night
For morning will come and the day will dawn and if God is willing they will still have each other.  And that is as good as it gets.

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Laura Breidenthal June 17, 2015 at 4:59 PM Aww..this one is so so sweet... Always, Laura

Karen Anglesey April 19, 2014 at 8:43 PM Awesome story. Reminds me of my own childhood memories of fishing for trout on the Provo river and frying them up with grease in the frying pan. Love this one :)

Barbara Gorelick April 4, 2014 at 9:03 PM sounds like a day I would have liked. It truly is the small things in life..as good as it gets. BG Stephen Kilmer April 4, 2014 at 9:57 PM Yes indeed. I spent many day in a John boat pulling crappie from the muddy bayous of Louisiana and boiling them in lard from a jar on the range. Good eating and good times.