Poetry Sunday: Fishing on the Susquehanna in July by Billy Collins
Billy Collins ranks right near the top, if not at the top, of my list of favorite contemporary poets. His poems always seem to speak directly to me, to be written especially for me. Now that is a rare and wonderful talent in a poet! And like him, I have never been fishing on the Susquehanna or any river for that matter...
Fishing on the Susquehanna in July
by Billy Collins
I have never been fishing on the Susquehanna
or on any river for that matter
to be perfectly honest.
Not in July or any month
have I had the pleasure—if it is a pleasure—
of fishing on the Susquehanna.
I am more likely to be found
in a quiet room like this one—
a painting of a woman on the wall,
a bowl of tangerines on the table—
trying to manufacture the sensation
of fishing on the Susquehanna.
There is little doubt
that others have been fishing
on the Susquehanna,
rowing upstream in a wooden boat,
sliding the oars under the water
then raising them to drip in the light.
But the nearest I have ever come to
fishing on the Susquehanna
was one afternoon in a museum in Philadelphia
when I balanced a little egg of time
in front of a painting
in which that river curled around a bend
under a blue cloud-ruffled sky,
dense trees along the banks,
and a fellow with a red bandanna
sitting in a small, green
flat-bottom boat
holding the thin whip of a pole.
That is something I am unlikely
ever to do, I remember
saying to myself and the person next to me.
Then I blinked and moved on
to other American scenes
of haystacks, water whitening over rocks,
even one of a brown hare
who seemed so wired with alertness
I imagined him springing right out of the frame.
I suspect I too will never go fishing on the Susquehanna. Or anywhere else for that matter, I have fished a little in the past but those days are done.
ReplyDeleteI've only fished once (in Kansas, many years ago) and that was it for me. Kansas is pretty far from the Susquehanna. I liked the imagery of balancing a little egg of time in front of a nature painting.
ReplyDeleteLovely poem! I've seen the Susquehanna on my one trip to Pennsylvania years ago, but I didn't go fishing on it. In fact, I've never been fishing at all. :D
ReplyDeleteI like Billy Collins too. He's understandable to read. I have seen the Susquehanna at Havre de Grace, Maryland but I can't say I fish either. But we can imagine a scene like that on the river.
ReplyDelete"I have never been fishing on the Susquehanna
ReplyDeleteor on any river for that matter
to be perfectly honest."
No, Billy Collins, me either. In fact, to be perfectly honest, I've never been fishing at all and I really don't like the idea of doing so. But I do love your poetry, Billy.