FISHING FOR DAD
Dad spent boyhood summers fishing at a camp on Lake George
A crack of the line, spring music played in our side yard
With a precise snap of his wrist, he’d practice throws with the rod
His long graceful fingers tied the flies he used for casting
A crack of the line, spring music played in our side yard
Thoughts a hooked trout’s rainbow glow in a tail-ballet on water
His long graceful fingers tied the flies he used for casting
No gutting dirty work for this original catch and release man
Imagining a rainbow glow of a hooked trout’s tail-dance on water
He praised the beauty of trout he fished in the Battenkill
No gutting dirty work, he practiced catch and release
He wrote articles and poems that Fly Fisherman published
He enthused over the beautiful trout he fished in the Battenkill
Mom walked dirt roads or read books while dad cast and fished
He treasured copies of his writing in Fly Fisherman
Dad spent boyhood summers at a Lake George camp fishing
***
A PRAISE POEM
I admire my grandaughter and flowers
We isolate at home during COVID
Three-year Wrenna home-locked, daycare closed
Blooming catkins drape the pussy willow
She expresses delight building Legos
Miniature daffodils brighten the fog
She colors intensely inside the lines
Cups of pastel crocus fill with raindrops
She crayons a purple face, pink hair, green shoes
Stark white snowdrops on bare black earth
Mallory asks to play, Wrenna’s parents send her away
Heavy clumps of blue violets bloom on the hill
Wrenna holds a battery operated music box
Forsythia flowers push out sunshine petals
She practices twirls in a dance for Aili, her sister
Hellebores, glorious clusters of colored bells
Dizzy, she falls, no tears, picks herself up
Bloom studded dandelions spread in rosettes
Cut off from friends, Wrenna hugs her baby sister
Outside the window, flowers and the virus thrive.
***
(Rengay co-authored by Leslie McKay and Ingrid Bruck)
MY SILK SHIRT
~ by Ingrid Bruck & Leslie McKay (italics)
pandemic deprived
wild uncut curly hair
lining silver
finding respite in
an elegant orange beanie
upstaging locks
reddish lemony marigolds
my silk shirt
the box of silk worms
I leave at school
missing from my desk
creeping up behind me
a bogeyman plays gotcha
kung fu fighting
in a brand new mask
an old warrior
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Date Published: October 13, 2020