Wading the Tailwater
by Robert Tremmel

This is Michael Carey for Voices from the Prairie a weekly sampling from the rich soil of Iowa’s literary tradition. Today’s poem is "Wading the Tailwater" by the Ames poet Robert Tremmel. It is about fishing with a sense of humor. In it the speaker is hoping to hook something that will nourish while letting the beautiful scenery all around hook him. It is what has reeled him in to this place after all, to the outdoors away from all the frenetic worries of the office.


Wading the Tailwater

Saylorville, Iowa, April 1

for Dale Ross

High Water
back in the saplings.
Willowy branches
poke fun at me,
pretending I am dead,
trying to convince me
they have caught my body
and are holding it
for the authorities.

But I am no fool.
I know the truth.

There are no authorities.

What they really intend
is to lull me
into a false sense
of security,
and then,
when I least expect it,
sell my corpse, my clothes,
my waders and gear
at one of the pawnshops downtown.

I decide to get them back,
ignore their game,
and pretend to be alive.
I cast out my line,
far as it will go, run and glide over the sand, unfocus
my eyes and breathe through the gillslit of the moon.

I reach
into that narrow light
further and further,
deeper and deeper
until nothing can touch me.

"Wading the Tailwater" by Robert Tremmel from the book Voices on the Landscape published by Loess Hills Books.

For Voices from the Prairie and Humanities Iowa, this is Michael Carey hoping you continue to hear the music blooming all around you.

Biography

Robert Tremmel is from Sheldon in northwest Iowa. Educated at the University of Iowa, he is now an Associate Professor of English at Iowa State University. His first book Driving the Milford Blacktop was published in 1991 by BkMk Press.

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