patience
my father
once told me
son
fishing isn’t about the chase
it’s about the wait
he said
confusing skill with fate
i looked at the surface
and thought
that it depended
upon the spot
it doesn’t matter
how patient one was
it mattered where
one’s hook dropped
my father looked on
distraught
and released these words
with great haste
he said
son
your problem is
you’re always in a race
but the more you rush
isn’t going to make that fish
take the bait
the reason why i catch more fish
he continued
trying to relate this situation
to our own sakes
is
because i
leave my line in the lake
while you
you’re constantly
pulling yours out
how ironic it was
that during our many
conversations
he was usually
pulling away
from me...
- Shitolian 2019
check out more lessons like these in my books: Shitolian, Book Smart, An Open Wound, Writer's Block: A Book of Shitty Poems