A poem with no commas or God

I learned nature is more civilized than civilization

Life-Size Black Bass, Winslow Homer (1904)

A poem with no commas or God

by Bob Hicok

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Caught a big fish years ago a pike two feet long 
without bait just a hook and my red shirt 
right from shore 

someone cut it open slopped the guts out cooked it 
we ate it for dinner later I saw another fish 
looking for that fish I figured in the unfinished 
house of my seven year old brain and apologized 
to the deaf ear of the water sincerely 
and never fished again except for love 

and moonlight and ice cream the next day 
after dinner when there wasn’t any 
in the freezer I walked barefoot in my red shirt 
again and always in those days a mile into town 
for a cone better than almost anything 
that’s happened since is how I remember 

remembering it even though I probably had shoes on 
and the water listened to every word I said 
and nodded now and then so I’d know 
it was paying attention and not just waiting 
for its turn to speak is how I learned nature 

is more civilized than civilization 
is natural or something I guess like that 
or different