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Loading...Poem of the Month: Fishing With My Father
- Dr. Neala Peake, selected from AllThingsHealing.com
- July 23, 2012
- 8:00 am
- 20 comments
by Perie Longo, PhD, LMFT, Contributor to Writing & Poetry Therapy on Allthingshealing.com
Editor’s Note from Susan de Wardt: Celebrate Father’s Day by sharing family experiences with your father or a loved relative. Perie Longo’s poem “Fishing With My Father” evokes those special summer days when kids spend time with their dads.
He always took me fishing with him
on those long northern summer nights
out in the boat and I loved it, not the sitting for hours
under all the moons and showy red lights, but the going –
the creak of the oars in the locks like entering
an attic of silence where no one could reach us,
water beads lined up on the edge of the oar
clinging like a string of pearls before they dripped back
into the liquid mirror that held us all. I realize now
how many poems I thought up but never noted
in those hours while we stared the bobber down
praying for a catch. I used to play games to pass the time,
for it was not the fishing that pleased me
but being with my father
in his joy. If I blinked my eyes thirty-nine times,
on the fortieth a muskie would strike, that fish
my father’s dream he took to heaven I think.
When I held his arm at his passing,
clung to his hand like no fish ever had,
he let go and I slipped off, like that.
If I blink thirty-nine times, on the fortieth
Maybe I’ll catch a glimpse of him.
Perie Longo
From the anthology Fishing With My Father: A Literary Companion, Peter
Kaminsky, ed., NY:Chamberlain Bros., a Penguin Group, © 2005
Copyrighted Material. For educational and/or therapeutic use.
Read more: Holidays, Inspiration, Love, Peace, Spirit, Uncategorized, allthingshealing.com, father's day, Perie Longo, poetry, poetry therapy, writing, writing prompts
Dr. Neala Peake, selected from AllThingsHealing.com
All Things Healing (allthingshealing.com) is an online portal and community dedicated to informing and educating people across the globe about alternative healing of mind, body, spirit and the planet at large. We are committed to bringing together a worldwide community of individuals and organizations who are working to heal themselves, each other, and the world. We offer 39 healing categories, 80 plus editors who are experts in their fields, a forum for each category, and an extensive "Find Practitioners" listing. Our Costa Rica Learning Center and Spiritual Retreat is coming soon. Join us!
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20 comments
+ add your ownThank you Dr. Neala Peake, for Sharing this!
beautiful
Thanks.
However, fishing is a cruel sport. Why not write, for example, about walking?
nice
What a lovely poem. So glad you have such wonderful memories of your dad.
I was blessed with a good dad who took me fishing too... still can't believe he's gone....
awww thanks!!!
ty
The good old days, fishing with Dad. Memories that will last forever. Blessings to all.
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