Catching the Limit
$15 + $2 postage
Please e-mail me to be notified
when it arrives this fall.
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Mark Thalman's book Catching the Limit has been selected by Bedbug Press to be part of their Northwest Writers Series. His book will be published in 2009. Thalman's poetry has appeared in Carolina Quarterly, CutBank, Many Mountains Moving, Natural Bridge, Pedestal Magazine, and Pennsylvania Review, among others. He received his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon, and he teaches English in the public schools. Thalman was born and raised in Eugene, and now resides in Forest Grove, Oregon.
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CATCHING THE LIMIT
I troll along the south shore,
where other fisherman say
the angling is no good: too shallow,
too many weeds. With their fish finders,
they cluster off Princess Creek,
but I don't see them catching anything.
The lake lies flat mirroring sky.
An osprey rides the currents,
until he spies a trout,
folds his wings and drops
like a swift mountain stream
falling over the edge of a cliff,
plunging talons first
into his own reflection . . .
Emerging in a fury of spray,
wings widespread, using them as oars,
the bird strokes against the surface,
flapping steadily to reach the air again,
nosing his wriggling prey into the wind.
I point the bow at the spot
where the osprey caught the rainbow.
More times than not, that is the place
my pole starts to bend.
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