You can see them in the groggy dawn,
wearing plaster-stained sweatshirts
and logging-company trucker caps,
casting 14 lb test into the confluence
connecting the Snake and the Clearwater.
A hundred power boats float
together, their captains and crews biding
time before the steelhead come home.
Before too long, the rods will bend
and the hoots and “Oh Shits”
will skip across the water.
Some of them will have beer for breakfast.
All of them will go to work at the mill
east of here after they clean their catch.
You will watch it all from the levee,
and the memory will never
be enough when you skip town.
Kurt Olson was once in an MFA program, but the stress-puking and nervous breakdowns made him realize he should stop that. He ferments chili peppers and cabbage sometimes. He lives with his wife, Allie, and their absurd number of cats. @cranberrytroy he/him