Long Bluegill Poems

A Brisling (King Oscar sardines)

I opened a tin of sardines in olive oil for supper
Headless and nicely packed, except for one
that had a head and was alive.
I put the live one in a glass jar;...

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‘Waupaca Awakens’

The thin ice cracks
As daylight breaks,
Along the still waters
Of a chain of lakes

Melting snow and slush
Both lapping the pier,
Letting the bluegill know
A new season is near

North of the place
The first sound is heard,
A sign...

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'Starfish!' said I, 'thing of a moray eel.'
Be it black ocean space;
Or in the breathing coral seas;

Back into my memories squiding;
To warn me about the sea turtle;
The cetacean coral reef crabbing;
Sharks and piranhas kidnapping;

I heard...

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Seven and one, open gates!
Zero, cancel wild!
He who suffers, first berates!
Listen, auld to child!

Errors of the prophets?
By necessity, none.
Perfect record, get the fits?
Oracle, scion, pun?

Ergo, O my time and space!
As above, below!
Meteor, dark fire, displace.
Broken,...

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Ideas came in hard. They came in fast.
They opened my dream, and gave me a blast.
Big Bluegill laughed, and sent me quickly home
In my day state, to write a gentle poem.

Few original ideas now, for...

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You have never experienced fishing until you’ve fished from a dragon.
As far as I am concerned after this experience, no other seat will do.
Dussley, my dragon, entered the lake without making a sound.
I enjoyed the...

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A playful brant swam on the pollen-dabbed lake.

A dipper perched on a dog-wood tree so dazzling and aromatic,
he neither decided to stay nor go although his companions were gone;
he had a white head and gray...

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As I gazed out over the slow-flowing creek
Suppressing the agony of losing my child
Tears never fail to spill down my cheeks
As I have repeated this ritual for a while

Making these pilgrimages to this waterway
While I...

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Fred visits Bill every month at 
the facility he’s been in for years. 
Age and booze brought Bill there.
He's still strapped to his bed
so he can't go wandering again 
when he gets a taste for...

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Dip your head to the water
and whisper your afflictions.

And allow the gravel banks
and suckling roots
to know your secrets.

And allow the water lilies
and bluegill
to know of your longings.

And the water lilies
and the bluegill
will speak to you...

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