Poetry Corner: Fish and Friendship

What do fish and friendship have in common? If nothing else, they at least share the subject of the poem I’m about to share.

“Your Catfish Friend” by Richard Brautigan is a rather odd poem, but the oddity of this poem, mixed with its simplicity, appeals to me. Since I’m flying over to North Carolina to spend time with friends for an entire week, I want to share a poem about friendship; and, since my friends and I are rather odd anyway, this poem is appropriate.

Your Catfish Friend

by Richard Brautigan

If I were to live my life
in catfish forms
in scaffolds of skin and whiskers
at the bottom of a pond
and you were to come by
one evening
when the moon was shining
down into my dark home
and stand there at the edge
of my affection
and think, “It’s beautiful
here by this pond. I wish
somebody loved me,”
I’d love you and be your catfish
friend and drive such lonely
thoughts from your mind
and suddenly you would be
at peace,
and ask yourself, “I wonder
if there are any catfish
in this pond? It seems like
a perfect place for them.”

And now it’s time to pack for my trip and and hang with some friends! I hope I can be like the catfish and drive away their loneliness… 🙂

I’ll report back with details from my trip! Can’t wait to cross some items off of my bucket list!

~~~

References

Brautigan, Richard. 1967. Trout Fishing in America, the Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence.