Geoff Collins’
family lives in the small farm town of Marshall, Wisconsin, not far from
Madison. Behind his house runs the Maunesha River, a humble waterway that flows
eastward into the Crawfish and then into the Rock River, which ends up in the
Mississippi (don't they all?) somewhere down in Illinois. He is a science
teacher by training, and a poet for the love of it.
Carp Rodeo
When the boy in flannel
finally hauled
that monster in close to shore,
his new red spin-caster reel humming
and the rod bent over double,
you should have seen
the shining wonder in his eyes.
I wished I could freeze
that moment forever:
the sunlight sparkling on the water,
the grassy banks,
the boy in blue jeans and sneakers,
his buddies all around
with smiles as wide as the river.
In the end,
we laid that rough fish in the grass to die.
The kids hung around
to poke at it a while with sticks,
then lost interest and
wandered off.
Before leaving,
I froze one other moment in my mind:
The dying fish all alone
in gray scale and half tones
near the fence
with sunlight glinting off its scales.
