"I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom. I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients." Gustave Courbet

24 June 2016

Strewn.


UNCLE HARRY: LOWER BASIN 1936

from the cove, rowing back
alone, the mid-morning sun drying
the pickerel strewn under the seats
of his flat bottomed boat

finishing it off, trolling almost
to the tie-tree, adrift now
reeling in, he spits out the last inch 
of his cigarette:    get any I ask

thirty-three summers ago, those black
pickerel jaws stiffening in the hard gator
slouch.    naryone he grins
throwing them one by one at my feet

clambering up the bank to the fish
table:    edging his knife beneath
the stumplimp necks, thumbing down the blade
stripping the skins like making tape

Donald Junkins

No comments: