Orillia, Ontario, May,2001: Half-Pint Perch Poem by Brian Purdy

Orillia, Ontario, May,2001: Half-Pint Perch



Half-pint perch in sunlit water
Chase their shadows above the rocks.
A fisherman chews a cigarillo
Light brown in a darkly-golden face.

I watch him lean above the water,
Bend his line through olive light
While Lilliput swimmers in the channel
Flee the shade of their fisher-god.

His rod and reel do not protect them
Through the dark and weedy trench;
Too small yet for him to want them
Yet they fear their circumstance

Will they know, when fully-grown,
They must flee before his hook?
Or will they simply not remember
How his shadow struck and shook?

Lifting out a foot-long swimmer
Grinning while he bites his smoke,
The fisher-god secures his dinner
Meets my eye, re-baits his hook.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Adeline Foster 05 June 2012

Wow, I love it. When I was last in Orillia, no, I did not have the thrill of fishing, yet I can enjoy this through your poem. Lovely. Read mine - We the Unencumbered - Adeline

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Don Tiedemann 26 April 2012

Hi Brian, Good one. Like the vivid details of the fisherman. Also liked your Winter Misanhrope. What self-respecting poet fails to write poems about Spring in Spring. Nothing new from me. Got some things in the works. Wish I had more time to devote to them. Communicated with RG this week regarding his Lockhartites poem. I always enjoy poems about the unchosen. Remember to tell me when you post anything new.

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Sharad Juneja 21 April 2012

beautiful and inspiring poetry..... brilliant

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Sara Fielder 11 April 2012

Now this is my kind of poetry right here. Dang! I want to write like this but I can't. Why? You write what you live right? Right. Maybe I need to go buy a pole.

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Brian Purdy

Brian Purdy

Belleville, Ontario
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