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
