50+ Lifestyles

Max’s Musings

By Max Molleston

For those of us who live in the 50+ age range, April may bring some of us lots of energy.  If you and yours  wintered  in  warmer latitudes  and  are  “ home again” and looking to enrich  landscapes and other areas of the home, that is precisely what  Homes Shows are powered to  bring. The rest of us who stood with  the  antagonists:  winds, cold and snow, dream of some form of escape. As daytime temps again conform to our ideas of warmth, and sunshine and south winds help, why not get ready for a fishing expedition, with poles, lines, lures , bait and hooks. More often than not, it is a local river,  where  ice is out and fish more active, if you know where to go. My escape experience was in a hospital waiting room.  I usually grab an issue of Field and Stream  and did this past February in Iowa City.  Experiences  of outdoor  writers, in this case  T. Edward Nickens,  are  most interesting. This Summer issue exploded with fishing stories. Writers who deal in natural settings and subjects like Nickens  does in issues of Field and Stream, are keen enough and skilled at their craft to lure readers.  I was pulled  into  his  quest for a great place to camp and to fish.  Keep in mind this poem is crafted  from  Nicken’s words. I uncovered the poetic bent of his situation and moved his series of thoughts on fishing hole needs into seventeen lines. I did title this effort:

 Think Fish 
I want a hole in the tree canopy
so  I can see the stars.
I want the morning sun
to blast the tent
because I need all the help I can get
to force me
out of a warm sleeping bag
and into the cold waders.
I cannot abide generators,
or radios, or satellite anything.
Infant children, yowling in the night,
however, bring back great memories.
I’ll need access to a separate cooking area
because I am going to eat fish,
for lunch, dinner, and most likely breakfast.
These are just my needs, of course,
and you are entitled to yours.

This delightful article, built  with appealing  tastes of humor and heaped with outdoor understanding , was considerably longer than this poem, and presented many more demands as seen by the writer.  The  poetry exercise you have engaged is along the lines of one a few months ago, as The Gazette writer Orlan Love explored  landscapes bursting to bountiful greenery, the fullness of the greenery and timely flower displays aided by ample rainfall. Nearly all professional writers  are capable of exploring all forms. Some do, some don’t. The most ambitious poets find energy and/or necessity to challenge themselves by delving into other languages, bringing those poets work to us via translations. Some of this world’s finest poetry comes from the head, heart and pen of languages we do not speak or read.  The snow and ice, blustery cold winds which entered our lives after Mother Nature “piped in” those mild initial weeks wants  most of us  to visit and select and pay up for the potential of brilliant floral displays and to make arrangements for shrubs and special trees to fulfill our lives.

Join me here, next month, to read what I can bring to you.