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Monday, November 03, 2008

FISHING WITH McCAIN

by Scot Siegel

in the distance, the black cod fleet
is having a banner day

Here we are
chumming along, ice-free
through the Northwest Passage

Petroleum LNG Geothermal...
the possibilities are endless
it seems...

*

Then we hit a reef
called Alaska
we see Russia

and it looks
good
from here...

Fish bones impale
our hoarse throats
as the boat lists

and our campaign
engine
sputters...

*

I'd throw her back if I could
October gaffs
gave me grief

She's a looker,
but a lousy
deckhand...

*

Got media hooks
in my shoulders now
sore from reeling up

urchins
rocks
anemones...

I can't catch
a break
for the life of me

I'm snagged
on a bush
called history

Global fisheries
crashing
     like stocks

over the bow -

Bernancke, Patraeus, Somebody
          save me now

I think I'm turning Green!


Scot Siegel is an urban planner and poet from Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he serves on the Lake Oswego City Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees for the Friends of William Stafford. His first full-length poetry collection Some Weather is forthcoming from Plain View Press in 2009.
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