byjoseph a. dandurand
1955.
down by the river.
puh and muh fishing.
quiet sunday afternoon.
all the chores have been finished.
catholics are in the fields searching for lovely flowers to pick,
to smell,
to pick.puh hooks the first one.
her little arms holding on,
holding,
pulling,
pulling.
the fish snaps up into the air and looks around.
his eyes staring right at her.
little indian girl.
little fisherman.
little gift from above.
her hands grasp the pole.
her eyes widen.
her breath quickens.
flowers picked out of the earth.
snapped at the stem.
noses sniffing the air.
searching for the scent of god.
all his creations.
now devoured by humans.
flowers,
fish,
little indians with crosses around their necks.
flowers.
lovely flowers,
fish.
it jumps once more and snaps the line.
going down to the bottom.
down where the water is calm.
it rests.
swallows the fat worm.
unaware of the creation.
unaware.muh gets a nibble.
the hairs on his arms stand up.
catholics singing in the fields.
songs about glory and salvation.
muh dances the worm.
singing his song beneath his breath.
he shuffles his feet,
trying to remember his dance.
worm dances beneath the water.
a salmon spots it.
swims toward it.
hunger.
dance.
song.
shuffling of bare brown feet.
fields of flowers.
fields of salvation.
river.
water.
fish takes the worm.
fields of song.
worm becomes a hook.
the salmon snaps his head to the left and then to the right.
hook goes deeper.
muh pulls.
his little indian arms pulling.
his song getting louder.
his feet quickening to the beat of the drum inside his head.
he pulls,
he sings,
he shuffles his feet like the old days,
like the days back home.
he pulls the fish out of the water.
he takes a small club-like branch
and snaps the fish on top of the head twice.
fish stops.
muh pulls the hook and what is left
of the worm out of the fish's mouth.
drops it back into the river.fields of flowers.
songs of glory and salvation.two indian kids on the river's edge.
1955.
worms on hooks.
songs.
drum.
paint.
memories of home.
silently breathing songs of glory.
From looking into the eyes of my forgotten dreams, Kegedonce Press.
© 2000 Joseph A. Dandurand. Ordering information.