Fishing

Springtime in Redding
We lived in a little pink house
at the bottom of some yellow hills.
A creek rolled past us.
I was nine years old.
I ran throught the field
with it's crackly weeds,
chasing butterflies and collecting spiders
Wild flowers colored the field,
purple, yellow, pink and green.
I loved to pick them for my mother.

At the creek, I sat on a rock
with my feet dangling and splashing.
I watched the tadpoles.
Some of them were growing legs.

I spotted a fish in the middle of the creek.
Standing up slowly, I hung on to the
slipper rocks with my toes.
I stood above the fish
with my legs spread apart.,
I grabbed the fish.
It slipped through my hands
I kept grabbing and splashing.
Amazingly I kept my balance.
Finally, I caught him and
took him home to my mother.
She said, "That's just an old carp."
garbage fish."  We can't eat it."
I thought to myself,
"I risked my life to catch a garbage fish."