I never liked fishing

I never liked fishing

It didn’t hook me

The first time

I tried it

And that was that

I was a fidgety tike

With an antsy

Restlessness

That didn’t sit well

With a lazy day

By the river.

My brother was a dab hand

From the beach

All-night vigils

Even in winter.

Off the rocks at Blackhall,

Fresh mackerel

For breakfast,

I liked that.

I was better off in bed

Even with the night terrors

For company.

We used to catch tiddlers

Out of the beck

Past bottom field

Tossed them back in

Hoping they would grow

Into Pike

They never did.

In summer, we would

Dam it up

And swim,

In our underpants,

Perhaps we all did.

It’s a wildlife reserve now

With a fishing club

And a license fee.

How times change

There is a ‘no swimming’

Sign

To deter the natives

It wouldn’t have deterred me

Perhaps it would now.

I want to preserve

My dignity

I wear my clothes well,

My skin,

Not so much.

Everybody deserves

A little privacy

When they get older

It’s the only thing

I can get

For free and it’s

Worth preserving