Fourteen

 

I'm sitting in my darkened

ice-fishing shanty,

with cold fingers,

with cold toes.

With my size fourteen

insulated snow boots,

I've kicked and cleared fourteen

inches of snow off the ice.

I've manually augured

a cylindrical hole

through fourteen inches

of clear and opaque ice.

I've dropped a teardrop,

baited with a waxworm,

fourteen feet into

the cold, dark water.

Now I sit and wait.

Now I jig the bait.

Sit.        Wait.

Jig bait.        Wait.

It's almost

this much work

waiting to catch

a poem.

A keeper.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan