The best thing about fishing with dad
Was not catching anything all day
And yet going home together fished out,
With more fish stories and time shared
With which to bait our next hooks
And cast more memories over the water.
Fishing
Paradox
Having known this dock since childhood
I know the first section is nearly infinite;
Fish after fish after star were born there
And my shadow grew out over the water.
I know the second section is truly infinite
Because we fished in the eye of the sun.
I know the oldest, infinitely infinite section,
Mid dock after the second oldest
Broke free in a storm and was re-attached,
Was like fishing in another dimension,
Existing between two places that can’t exist.
Fishing with my Father
I could fish for hours,
Lose myself in a marsh
Carried by giant carp,
A dragonfly hook its shadow on my eye
And guide me back to my surprised self.
Fishing in silence beside my father,
I would glance up at him,
Catching the fishes that got away,
Years there lost in him,
A sadness inseparable from living.
I caught once, his fish reflection,
Sinking below the surface.
Salvatore Ala 