The One That Got Away

August 10, 2010 - Timber Wolf Lodge, Ely, MN

There's always one isn't there?

Always the story of the thirty-pounder,

The fight of your life, exhilarating, heart-thumping

Did-you-see-that one that got away.

Mine wasn't like that

He was pretty and shiny and

Might have been a keeper

I was exhilarated and my heart-thumped

When he got away, but he was average,

Just average.

The north winds blew

Eagle screeched overhead

White caps raged

Beneath clear then cloudy skies

Over Bear Island Lake

Twenty years since my last time

So long I'd forgotten what I remembered

The cool touch of the pole

Or the proper movement for satisfying results

The proficiency, the experience, somewhere within.

Once I'd been skilled, not expert, but adept

Now it was like the very first time

All over again

The one you want to forget

He was alert. He recognized the awkwardness

What was that shimmy in the palm of my hand?

At the moment I realized he was mine

He flicked me off and disappeared into

The pond that's full of one's just like him.

He was pretty and shiny and

Might have been a keeper

But he was only average.