As a young boy, didn’t I
fish that narrow ditch
that ran from the woods
across the slope and under
the country road where I dipped
my pole with thick line
and worm-baited hook into clear,
clear water I was sure trout
inhabited, though I’d never
seen more than frogs and pollywogs,
but trout were wily, I’d
been told. I wonder now
what those in the few cars passing
thought of the young boy fishing
in the ditch any adult
would know was as fishless
as a bathtub at home.
I fished. Cars passed and
no one stopped to tell me
how futile my effort was.
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Read more of Matthew J. Spireng’s poems and reviews in Lightwood. Go to our Search Button and enter his name.
Matthew J. Spireng’s 2019 Sinclair Poetry Prize-winning book Good Work was published in 2020 by Evening Street Press. A 12-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is the author of two other full-length poetry books, What Focus Is and Out of Body, winner of the 2004 Bluestem Poetry Award, and five chapbooks. Website: matthewjspireng.com.
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