Short Story: Fishing

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Written by
Jay Leffew

If you were a fish...?

  • 151 Words
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  • 98% Community Rating
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I saw the rod arch out and flex; - I saw it shudder, strain,

I heard the angler shout with glee - and felt the fish's pain...

I saw the man stood on the bank, - the river lazing by

and watched as man and creature fought, - this scene just made me cry.

.

Why is it okay to hurt fish - yet not okay for mammals?

Why is this 'sport' so brilliant? - It's not just racing camels;

they're living, feeling, fearful things, - these fish thrown back to laughter,

or held, alive and gasping to be admired ere their slaughter...

.

You hold a beast down to be drowned you're evil, cold, uncaring,

but the equivalent to fish - is just a way of sharing

your pride in catching one 'This big! '? How can you be so thoughtless?

It doesn't know you'll throw it back; - it's terrified, - you're witless!

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David Green said "Now since I just left a rather critical review, I felt it fair that I read another tale by Jay: Fishing. And I found this short vehicle for his insight that fishing is fraught with pain and suffering exceptionally well done. It is true that, from time to time, I kill animals to eat. But I wish them well in their hereafter, and do not take their life with glee. Again, well done!"
6 months ago
Maysam Kandej said "This is a nice poem. I enjoyed reading it! Thanks :)"
9 months ago
Jay Leffew replied saying "I'm growing more and more sensitive to the nuances between 'protest' vs 'story'. This is borderline, and I think acceptable because of the way it's presented; it certainly gels with those who've read it, which is the important thing."
9 months ago
Winifred Marzella said "As a child i went north to my granny's croft in Lewis . My uncle took my brothers and me fishing. I hated it when I caught a fish and my uncle pushed a twig of heather into its mouth to carry it back I couldn't look at it. The thought of that experience still makes me shudder.Thanks Jay for your poem,so true."
10 months ago
Jay Leffew replied saying "Every living thing has a nervous system of sorts, even bacteria I guess, and just because it can't get up and walk around, like trees and lichens, doesn't mean it hasn't some form of feeling. We Humans are so insular in our thinking sometimes it would be laughable if it weren't so unkind. I think of it as little better than the days when slaves were treated like objects instead of living, feeling people."
10 months ago
Meg Malpass said "Not sure how long ago you wrote this poem Jay I just clicked on read a random story while waiting for the iron to warm up. It is so true and could be written of so many creatures."
11 months ago
Jay Leffew replied saying "So do I. I'm not a vegetarian, just, I hope, humanitarian. Denying ourselves as omnivores is unrealistic in my eyes, but I definitely don't want our 'prey' to suffer, as they would at the jaws and claws of lesser predators. I don't mind spiders under the bed, or anywhere else for that matter, (read my poem 'The Fly-catcher), they are so useful, but a quick death is the best answer if you must."
11 months ago
Meg Malpass replied saying "It really is a dilemma Jay. Last week I killed a spider because it was about to go back under the bed and I hadn't got time to chase it and put it out. I agreed with all that your story said about the fish and yet I eat fish and chicken and pork."
11 months ago
Jay Leffew replied saying "The inconsistency of 'Lawful' treatment of our fellow creatures, be they pest or pal, has bothered me since I was a teen. It seems the larger the mammal the more severe the punishment for ill treating them, but it's perfectly all right to give rodent pests a stomach ache on the way to gradually killing them. . . . . We've gone some way towards being kinder to foxes, but the fact is that non-mammal pests are still fair game for anything you want to perpetrate on them. . . . . Where you go from here is anyone's guess, because pests must be got rid of, and 'Organic' is nature's way, but not always successful because of the ignorant introductions of previous centuries. It's quite a mess. . . . . I've just lost all my Runner Beans to slugs and snails, which I stamp on whenever I see them; no way will I ever use 'Killer' on them because it's cruel, yet I simply had to when mice infested the house last year, and it gave me sleepless nights worrying about the pain I'd asked someone else to inflict on the poor things. I have a cat now..."
11 months ago
Charlie Wiseman said "Very powerful, thoughtful and compassionate"
1 year ago
Jay Leffew replied saying "Thank you Charlie. I have to be amazed that it hasn't been dealt with as seriously as the issues with warm-blooded creatures. I'm sure even insects have feelings, otherwise they wouldn't know to protect themselves, so if I can I'd rather squash them quickly, than spray them to a slow suffocation. It's not their fault they're pests. . . . . I couldn't go as far as some religious groups who won't even kill a cockroach or a mosquito; if they're attacking something important to me, they have to go..."
1 year ago
Adam West Guest Editor said "Fishing is still I think the most popular 'pastime' in this country - I wonder if your skilfully composed poem would make any fisherman think diefferently? Nice work, Jay - many thanks, Adam."
1 year ago
Jay Leffew replied saying "I greatly admire a lot of the presenters on nature programmes; their concern for all of nature and the dangers every aspect of it is facing, but without exception they seem to ignore the distress they are causing any fish they've caught. If it doesn't struggle do they assume it doesn't mind? If it does they laugh! . . . . . It's as though the surface of the water makes the difference between feeling and unfeeling unless you're a marine mammal, and even the presenters subconsciously subscribe to that myth."
1 year ago
Fran Strahan said "Bravo! As an animal lover I applaud this. Just because its not necessarily cute or furry doesn't mean its not a living, breathing creature. Very well said. Thank you Jay."
1 year ago
Jay Leffew replied saying "Good to see I struck a note with you all. Thanks for the positive feedback."
1 year ago
Andy Bottomley Guest Editor said "Hi Jay, well you certainly made your point there - well done. I, like you, cannot really understand the 'sport' of fishing unless you are actually going to introduce into the food chain by consuming it. I have always thought to cruel to suffocate a fish with air while one waits to throw it back - so well said that lady, well done....Andy"
1 year ago
Diane Dickson Guest Editor said "Oh well said Jay - I second every one of the thoughts expressed in this piece - well done - Diane"
1 year ago

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