"Piscator non solum piscatur"
("There is more to fishing than fish.)"
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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.
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CREELS
My father spent hours
trimming the edges
of the newly cut sally rods,
to make creels fore taking the turf
over the soft soil of the bog,
so that the horse and cart
could bring it home
for the winter time.
I watch how he scalloped
the edges, tightly tied
and intricately weaved
the fresh wood.
He was always making tools,
repairing them.
Birsy with his hands,
he wasted no time,
toook no holidays,
or trips away, except once
a year, cycling to Mohill
for the Manachan Day Fair
with my mother.
When they got home,
the sun was a low ember,
the cows milked.
PUBLISHED in PERFUME OF THE SOIL, SWAN PRESS, DUBLIN l999
Pollen scuds in swarms and settles,
As the winds blow and calm,
From bees, trees and flower petals;
I feel within my palm
Upon autos, hoses and window sills
The signs of Springtime-
Birds on branches, fish in creels,
Sunshine and a bell's chime.
Yet, the groundhog sees his shadow
As the overcast begins to pour.
The rain streams not so shallow;
I see outside my door
Water to the end of my driveway;
Pollen within the flood
Clumps at the edge of grass and clay
And congeals into yellow mud.
When crisis brings pain,
Everyone cries for spoonfuls.
Tears, complains and demands,
Expressions have only cry tools.
Everyone needs knowledge,
And experience by the lessons,
When they have selections,
And crying to keep handfuls.
A person understands a living,
When he dislikes fools,
When he likes to live on his own,
He hates all nasty creels.
Everyone has his meaning,
When they have cupfuls,
No tears, no complaints,
When they have basinfuls.