The fisher gets involved again in greater things and forces than mankind. In such a volcanic moment a spell may break its hold on him. His power from deep down rises up again to stretch his imagination so darn much that he can for the first time clearly picture the consequences of his padded, “non-negotiable” lifestyle on his mindscape, and on the Earth alive.
Just now leaving the angry open sea behind, white rollers still on my heels. My boat, the Onyx, runs me on autopilot through Sergius Narrows bucking a five-knot tidal current, the Chrysler-Nissan purring like a bee. Hoonah Sound lies ahead. The quietness of six hundred square miles of inside water awaits me, with the Tongass National Forest surrounding the scene. I will set there and tomorrow pull my long line gear for halibut the same way a Kalahari woman smoothly dib-dabs, jar balancing on her head, back from the well. What we love to do turns into rhymes and becomes beautiful.
From Theo Grutter’s Thinking Wild. RIP Theo, (1933-2014), SPC member since 1970. Pictures from Hans Wienberg, F/V Patience
It’s bigger than me!
One Fish At A Time
