Who dares rouse Leviathan,
the Giant beneath the heaving deeps?
This world now teams with Ahabs
whose heaping anger never sleeps.
Each one wants to hook its jaw
and each to press its tongue;
to try its rich and fragrant oil
and see it bound and beached and dumb.
Poor soul captains on fragile ships
vainly sharpening the barbless spear.
The Whale scoffs beneath the waves,
rising to teach all wisdom through fear.
Soon the Brute will breach and blow
and send each Pequod down below.
Categories:
barbless, anger, bible, christian,
Form: Sonnet
"Piscator non solum piscatur"
("There is more to fishing than fish.)"
______________________________
Brown trout anglers catch few fishes
and almost always let them go
barbless hooks make more for wishes
then creels full to dazzle
children’s eyes.
Brown trout anglers tell tales distilled
of truth, of rises that didn’t take and
fish as long as your arm that always
get away.
They reminisce over glimpses of otters,
mink, beavers, muskrat and deer.
pileated woodpeckers, wild turkey
snapping turtles, frogs and snakes
orchids, iris and skunk cabbage
mosquitoes, blackflies and nettles.
And if you define a river by its banks
and not its water, then it remains the
same waiting for next year.
__________________________________
Categories:
barbless, fish, fishing, nature,
Form: Free verse
Catch and Release
Art of let go
A journey
to release, a practice
to detach
Nearly three decades capturing the fruits of Sowind
~ I’m forever grateful…..deepest gratitude
for this catch, unexpected gift
Ready to release
Release responsibilities
Release W2
Release trophy
Release hidden ego
Release calling: a call to stand up to the plate of my life
Release weighing of the fish
Release being strong
Delegate this post to someone in needs
Entrust this auroral light to a successor
let the ribbon of barbless hook unfurl gracefully
After all
The fish are
unhooked and returned to the Universe
A liberating release! A grateful release!
Categories:
barbless, business, farewell, fish, freedom,
Form: Free verse
thus,
like snow,
cold ashes fall
charred history’s
hubristic gales
truth’s torment
tucked into howling
acquiescent innocence.
Empty men
line the banks
fishless rivers
sit idle
barbless hooks
impugn the air
ivy strangled
rowboats sigh
With age color fades
into the weariness
wonder wanders
among the weeds
joy darts through
day lit darkness
hides hope’s
vacant sunshine
time taints
tomorrow’s tomorrow
the calendar’s lie
tri-colored ink charade
mocking the idleness
of one so busy
last call
nightcap dosage
John G. Lawless
©6/8/2019
Categories:
barbless, age, america, life, youth,
Form: Free verse