Summer Catch

Harold Macdonald

In afternoon the still air heats up over the lake
over the calm water eighty miles across
holding the sounds and noises of our summer.
In the distance a large cruiser slowly moves past; if I were skipper
we would be hearing the clink of ice cubes, lounging exposed
to catch the photons.

And closer in guys are pulling their kids on water skiis
with their rumbling power boats, and sea-doos roar by;
and closer still, under the same sun people are sitting
on the piers watching children splash and closer still
on the water’s edge a heron has caught a silver bass,
ready for the gulp

the long neck swells, becomes graceful and slim again.
A stealthy cottager, camera in hand, missed it.
My dog and I are taking a familiar path
full of earthy smells. He doesn’t know this is the place,
where he chases ski-doos racing past him out there
on the snow trail.

Midi: In The Summertime