gone fishing

my friend jimmy
loves to fish, he'll
spend hours and
hours at the edge
of a lake or river
standing in the muck
in his converse
chuck taylor
black high tops
with a rod and reel,
a pack of smokes
in his shirt pocket
and a chinese white
box full of blood
worms. he asks
me to go with him
all the time, but
i tell him no, despite
how much fun it looks
i don't want to,
and don't see
the point, ever since
the grocery store
started carrying fish,
and putting it on
ice with the bones
removed and the
heads cut off, well,
i'm sort of done with
the sport of fishing.
and then he tells me
about the fight this
two pound catfish put
up the other day.
he weighs 195 lbs.
some fight, i tell
him. especially with
that hook in his lower
lip. he laughs as
he loads up his cooler
with beer and worms,
and some three pronged
snag hooks just in case
the herring are running.