Elegy

Abstract

Elegy Shazea Quraishi (bio) For a boy of eight or tenthe worm can bea great teacher, especially a strong, healthy creaturekept in damp mossto clean and harden his skin. Such a worm,hard, brightand brilliantly red should be fishedon a No. 10 or 8 offset hookor even a 6. Any limber polewith a length of line from the tipwill do but an old, soft fly rodwith a simple reeland 10-pound monofilament is best. So equipped, a boy can goto any trout water in spring and early summerwhen the water is high cast his worm inand let the current carry it tothe likely spots. Some places are good for big fishsome for small fishand some are a waste of time. [End Page 56] There is a difference between the feelof the lake or river bedand the feel of a fish mouthing the worm. There is a way of raising the rod tip firmly to strikethe hook into the fishwithout breaking the leader. There is a right moment for thisand a wrong moment.One must be quicker with a little fish than a big one. The testing time and the real learning time isin summer and fallwhen the water is low and clear. Best now to work upstreamapproaching the fish from behindkeeping the head low and the rod low stalking the fishrather than searching,sneaking up on the likely places. The cast is a delicate sidearm swing that slidesthe worm forwardthrough the air (drawing coils of loose line from the left hand)and plops it in at the head of the run.It comes drifting back. The line is slowly and carefully recoveredthrough the rings of the rodkeeping pace but never pulling on the worm. Suddenly the line stopsholds against the currentand the fish is there. The time will comewhen the boy is ready to fish a flyand the worm has little more to teach him. [End Page 57] Mountain lakes or lowland lakes,rushing streamsor quiet meadow streams, tidal estuariesor saltwater shallows,all have their charms and moods. Spring, summer, and fall,the fly-fisherman moves quietly through them,disturbing little, seeing much. [End Page 58] Shazea Quraishi Shazea Quraishi is a Pakistani-born poet and translator based in London. Her poems have appeared in UK and US publications including the Guardian, the Financial Times, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and numerous anthologies. Her books include The Art of Scratching (Bloodaxe Books, 2015) and the chapbook The Courtesans Reply (flipped eye, 2012), which she is adapting as a play. She teaches with the Poetry School and Translators in Schools and is an artist in residence with Living Words. note This poem employs text from A Primer of Fly-Fishing by Roderick Haig-Brown (William Morrow and Company, New York, 1964). Copyright © 2020 Middlebury College Publications