Life

Fishing is such a great pastime.

I cast my knitted days

letting them drift.

Anticipating the next surprise

I stand on the bank of dreams,

staring at time drifting through my net,

and hope.

Reviews

[Sami Khalil]

I like this a lot...Well done sir...:)

[KAOlmsted]

Like seine fishing...casting the net, hoping for a good haul. Nice work here, Mark...

[Mark]

Thank you dear. I did some net fishing in Alaska, never seine though. LOL mmm...

[KAOlmsted]

We lived on a boat in a marina in Craig, Alaska, and the seiners (we called them the in-seiners xD) would come up in the summer...holy cats, it was like a festival. Hundreds of boats...they would tie up to us, climb over our bow...some went skinny dipping off our bow one night and we had to laugh because the water was lousy with jellyfish xD Anyway...that's probably the ONLY thing I miss about Alaska...Meanwhile...my pleasure, of course. I enjoy your writing quite a lot.

[Mark]

I worked for a guy named Dean Bunker set - netting across the way from Soldotna. It was a great experience.

[KAOlmsted]

Morgan (my daughter) went to school with a girl named Kenai :-) We never got up into the belly of the beast, we mostly stayed in the dangly bits of Southeast...I went to Juneau once, but never really had the desire to see Fairbanks or Anchorage...heading south, seeing Ketchikan over my shoulder, was the best day of my life xD

[Mark]

'belly of the beast'... interesting choice of words :P In Talkeetna, there were about 200 people and 400 dogs. We drove to Anchorage about once or twice a month to get groceries.

[KAOlmsted]

And a travelers of $350.00 Black Velvet? ;-) In some of those dry towns, where it's illegal to have booze, it can cost at least that much...and if you get caught...oh man...but you know what? I have enormous respect for the AK troopers...

[Mark]

ya, I have heard. In our village there were multiple bars however. And the funny part is they all stayed busy.

[KAOlmsted]

I'd have gone bat s**t insane if Prince of Wales Island was dry *laugh*

[Mark]

LOL or broke :P

[KAOlmsted]

Ha! Right!

[SHEEMA HUQ]

.......and while you fish, you create great poetry in your head, right? Good work, Mark

[Mark]

These days it happens when I'm driving, with no way to write. :)

[Stanley Wilson]

deep and a great write Mark

[Claire Twinn]

Do you find time to catch any fish with all that philosophising? Or perhaps this poem is a metaphor for life and hope for the future?

[Mark]

Well, I grew up in Alaska where fishing was ... not very boring. I've tried fishing here and there, mostly because my kids wanted to and I'm spoiled I guess. Although I had a great time ocean fishing out of San Francisco bay. :) Do people go fishing much in GB? I imagine setting out to sea would be an adventure.

[Claire Twinn]

Fishing in GB seems pretty pointless to me- they catch it then let it go again!! If you're gonna bother it only makes sense if you eat it!

[Mark]

I agree totally.

[de_maruf]

nice

[Steven]

Hope kills. Expectation is the root of all sorrow.

[Mark]

but how dull life is without them ...?

[Steven]

Indeed.

[Mockingbird]

accepting mortality, 'anticipating the next step' and living time in tranquility and patience. great poem.

[Mark]

Thank you MB! Glad you saw something in it.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Hi Mark this described the tranquility of fishing well but I also saw it as a metaphor for seeing time slip through hands. Lovely poignat write.

[Mark]

Wow John... I was wondering if anyone would make that connection. I'm glad you saw that.