On a tributary of the Pemigewasset River
a man casts artificial flies into the Mad River
hoping to fool brook trout into believing
they are real insects so that he can
catch them and then release them again.
So much deception.
The man isn’t in need of fish for food.
He thinks of his angling as a sport.
The fish don’t share his belief system.
They are hungry and the only sport
is to fool the fisherman and his flies.
The river is mad.
It doesn’t like being called Mad.
It only gets angry after a big rain.
It’s not crazy though some people
who come to its edges are crazy
or mad and they want to be healed
by its waters and the sound of it
carries over rocks and into them.
It is clear, clean, without deception.
Find your headwaters. Find the source.
Some day you will find the sea.
Milneville 