Barbara A. Meier
The Joy of Grasshoppers
With my children by my side,
pulling starthistle thorning our woodlot reserve,
we gleefully chased with coffee cans--
fish bait.
There was a promise in those legs drumming on the coffee can lid.
A promise
of cool sheltering trees, water skipping rocks,
lines cast to mark the passage
of fish swimming upstream.
Oh how those grasshoppers danced on the water!
Tugging on the current, skewered by a hook,
oozing the tobacco juice spit.
Rising to the temptation, biting in hunger,
flashing silver in Oregon sun….
We bathed our ankles in earth spit,
tangled our casts, roared in glee at each tug.
Trout slayers with grasshopper guts!
The joy of lives, drumming with the river’s breath.
Barbara A. Meier recently retired from teaching and Oregon and moved to Colorado to spend time with her mom. She was just in time for quarantine 2020. Her first Micro Chapbook, Wildfire LAL 6 came out this last summer from Ghost City Press. Getting Through Gold Beach came out in November 2019 from Writing Knights Press.
With my children by my side,
pulling starthistle thorning our woodlot reserve,
we gleefully chased with coffee cans--
fish bait.
There was a promise in those legs drumming on the coffee can lid.
A promise
of cool sheltering trees, water skipping rocks,
lines cast to mark the passage
of fish swimming upstream.
Oh how those grasshoppers danced on the water!
Tugging on the current, skewered by a hook,
oozing the tobacco juice spit.
Rising to the temptation, biting in hunger,
flashing silver in Oregon sun….
We bathed our ankles in earth spit,
tangled our casts, roared in glee at each tug.
Trout slayers with grasshopper guts!
The joy of lives, drumming with the river’s breath.
Barbara A. Meier recently retired from teaching and Oregon and moved to Colorado to spend time with her mom. She was just in time for quarantine 2020. Her first Micro Chapbook, Wildfire LAL 6 came out this last summer from Ghost City Press. Getting Through Gold Beach came out in November 2019 from Writing Knights Press.