Dream Catch

a poem by Jeff Tigchelaar

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God I’d caught one

.      By far         the best I’d ever gotten

.      Maybe even the first

It was          absurdly large for Upper Silver
.                  this tiny manmade lake in Michigan
It was like     a little dolphin
.                  or shark        this fish
.         A baby whale even
.                     So big it had to be
.                                a metaphor for something I bet

.          but my father
said I had to let it go

It simply isn’t edible                he stated

He cut the line before I could protest

.          My catch        flopped away

He hadn’t even measured
.                                            or weighed it