The Dao Of Fishing Poem by Ray Lucero

Does a trout know it lives in water?

A lake her own watery universe,
where survival depends on speed
and an ability to find sustenance

The trout prays to her fish god;

“Lord god I hunger…feed me”

As if magic,
a fat worm drifts down from above

Instinctively the eager trout greedily
gulps down the wiggler

She then feels something sharp
in her gullet, then something
pulling her upward

She struggles;
Twisting and writhing

She’s pulled to waters surface
where she desperately jumps

It’s no use; the pull is too strong
Giving up she relaxes,
as a green web scoops down
and roughly encircles her

She gasps for breath in this dry
hostile alien environment

She hears a strange sound;

“Dad, ain’t she a beauty”

A beefy hand grasps the trout
Something cold is thrust down her throat
She feels the sharp hook dislodge and pull free

She makes a weak attempt to wiggle free,
just as another beefy hand holding something
wooden strikes downward…

She’s losing consciousness, but fights the
looming blackness long enough to think;

“God why hast thou forsaken me”

Then silence…

ROTMS