Fishing Poems

Popular Fishing Poems
The Newcomer
by Brian Patten

'There's something new in the river,'
The fish said as it swam.
'It's got no scales, no fins and no gills,
And ignores the impassable dam.'

'There's something new in the trees.'
I heard a bloated thrush sing.
'It's got no beak, no claws, and no feathers,
And not even the ghost of a wing.'


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A Red Palm
by Gary Soto

You're in this dream of cotton plants.
You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds
Fall with a sigh. You take another step,
Chop, and the sigh comes again,
Until you yourself are breathing that way
With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town.

That's hours later. The sun is a red blister
Coming up in your palm. Your back is strong,
Young, not yet the broken chair

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In The Summer
by Nizar Qabbani

In the summer
I stretch out on the shore
And think of you
Had I told the sea
What I felt for you,
It would have left its shores,
Its shells,
Its fish,
And followed me.
Translated by B. Frangieh And C. Brown

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The Feet Of The Young Men
by Rudyard Kipling

Now the Four-way Lodge is opened, now the Hunting Winds are loose --
Now the Smokes of Spring go up to clear the brain;
Now the Young Men's hearts are troubled for the whisper of the Trues,
Now the Red Gods make their medicine again!
Who hath seen the beaver busied? Who hath watched the black-tail mating?
Who hath lain alone to hear the wild-goose cry'
Who hath worked the chosen water where the ouananiche is waiting,
Or the sea-trout's jumping-crazy for the fly?

He must go -- go -- go away from here!

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Gone Fishin'
by Delmar Pepper

I've finished life's chores assigned to me,
So put me on a boat headed out to sea.
Please send along my fishing pole
For I've been invited to the fishin' hole.

Where every day is a day to fish,
To fill your heart with every wish.
Don't worry, or feel sad for me,
I'm fishin' with the Master of the sea.


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Recent Fishing Poems
Coho Season
by Robert Chase

On the jetty - in the mist - dry under ponchos
Surf pounding at concrete - biting at the shore
Glowing gaslamp beckoning gnats - freezing on the tank
Poles in hands - lines in water - standing in entwined silence
Coho spawning - swallowing offered bait
Father and Son sharing heartbeats and serenity

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Game Fishing in Florida
by Dr. Robert Ippaso

An art or a sport
Some whisper a ‘crazy obsession’,
And like Golf where age won't cut short
At least our pastime won't lead to depression.

A hook and a line
Much patience, sun balms,
No rush when your world is sublime
With glistening waters and a horizon of wavering palms.


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Everybody’s Grandfather
by Jeffrey Pipes Guice

Grandfather...
Will you play with me today...
Will you take me fishing...
Will you show me your way...

Will you tell me the difference
Between a crane and a loon...
Where’s your best fishing spot
At the Audubon Park lagoon...


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Miracles
by Walt Whitman

WHY! who makes much of a miracle?
As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach, just in the edge of the
water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love--or sleep in the bed at night with
any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with my mother,

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As I Ebb'D With The Ocean Of Life
by Walt Whitman

1
As I ebb'd with the ocean of life,
As I wended the shores I know,
As I walk'd where the ripples continually wash you Paumanok,
Where they rustle up hoarse and sibilant,
Where the fierce old mother endlessly cries for her castaways,
I musing late in the autumn day, gazing off southward,
Held by this electric self out of the pride of which I utter poems,
Was seiz'd by the spirit that trails in the lines underfoot,
The rim, the sediment that stands for all the water and all the

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Popular Poetry Topics
Popular Famous Poets about Fishing
  • Richard Brautigan
    Richard Brautigan (12 poems about Fishing)
    January 30, 1935 – September 14, 1984 / Tacoma, Washington
  • Billy Collins
    Billy Collins (10 poems about Fishing)
    22 March 1941 - / New York City
  • Marianne Moore
    Marianne Moore (4 poems about Fishing)
    November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972 / Kirkwood, Missouri
  • James Tate
    James Tate (3 poems about Fishing)
    8 December 1943 - / Kansas City, Missouri
  • Yosa Buson
    Yosa Buson (3 poems about Fishing)
    1716 - 1784 / Osaka / Japan
  •  Walter Enyeart
    Walter Enyeart (3 poems about Fishing)
    Mountlake Terrace, WA, USA
  • Thomas Lux
    Thomas Lux (3 poems about Fishing)
    1946 / Northampton, Massachusetts
  • Spike Milligan
    Spike Milligan (3 poems about Fishing)
    16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002 / Ahmednagar
  •  Audrey B. Dodge
    Audrey B. Dodge (2 poems about Fishing)
    Orlando, Florida
  • Jacob Steendam
    Jacob Steendam (2 poems about Fishing)
    1616 - 1672 / Enkhuizen