In a vision, I wandered
Through the grit and dust
Of a savage desert --
There I met a prospector.
"Do you know Richard Brautigan,"
I said drily?
"He's a pip of a saguaro," he said.
"Sounds like a prickly fellow,"
I opined with a parched throat.
"Are you calling him a prick, sir?"
"I meant he is prickly, or
Yes, I guess a prick,
Actually a trouser trout," I angled.
He turned around. "Kiss my ass,"
He said: his donkey brayed loudly,
"He's the ass, that Brautigan."
"How so?" I said.
"He's too cheeky for his own good,"
Was the rasping reply.
"Well, thanks for those words of wisdom,"
I groaned, moving away.
The donkey bleated, "Stop.
Trout fishing is a lot of fun --
Even if you aren't in America."
I opened my eyes to a troutstream
In the towering Himalayas...
There was an old fisherman
With a name tag that said:
Richard Brautigan,
Trout Fisherman Emeritus.
Flying fish sailed by
As he sipped a 'tallboy'
And groped a short woman.
Dead trout winked at me
As the sun went nova.
The Universe turned pink
When the 'Great Trout Fisherman
In the Sky' dumped
An enormous pitcher
Of watermelon sugar.
Good night, Sweet Prince.
Previously published in STAND ALONE, July, 1998
Author notes
"Brautigan is good for you. No writer you can think of is quite like him today, nor was any writer anytime - unless you can imagine the kind of things Mark Twain might have written had he wandered into a field of ripe cannabis with a pack of Zig Zag papers in his pocket. That's about as close as I can come to Brautigan, a kind of cracker-barrel surrealist whose humor is essentially Nineteenth-Century Western American."
- Bruce Cook
"The National Observer" quote from the back cover of "The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western"
Written October 24th, 1996
A contest entry
- " Pick It " Contest Winners Only by Nicole Hanna.
300 points, ended February 10, 2006, 2 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Pre-writes & Fresh Writes by LadyUnique.
400 points, ended March 7, 2008, 56 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 33 of 33
-
I rather enjoyed this one. Though I wouldn't compare it to taking acid, as the reviewer under me, I certainly got lost in it. Thank you for entering.
-
i'm in awe with my mouth gaping open. this is delicious. not only am i treated with this excellent write i now have a new poet to check out. i smiled through the entire poem thinking 'this is like taking acid'
even though i've never done it 
into the finalist list this goes and i wish you much luck from there for the list is getting crowded
thanks for entering
-
I love how you flip into each scenario, like 'that reminds me...' although, it's an unusually sharp mind that's reminded of the Himalayas (and all that follows!) by a donkey bleating "trout fishing is a lot of fun--Even if you aren't in America"
I can see the connection between conversations with prospectors in a savage desert and certain sites that host 'artistic' contests, as the hilarious misunderstanding about the word "prickly" showed me how "a parched throat" can lead to all kinds trouble (especially when speaking to strangers)!
enjoyed, thanks!
-
-
And it takes an acute intelligence ...
to 'get' the point, which seems to define you. Thanks for being a person of that caliber. -
-
well thanks!
I'm not familiar with Brautigan, although I have read him before as Scott Adelmann's spoken of him. Your poem reminds me to read him again
whatever, this poem's delightfully dark, like being inside the mind of a sarcastic travelling researcher at the end of the World
-
-
-
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !!! .... >>> GINA
-
Brautigan has been my favorite poet since the first thing i read by him. This seems to capture well the essence of the man. Nice work, and congrats on the Silver.
Scott -
Thanks.
-
Seeing that your poem has been published skeerrrs me. Now I've got this feeling like I have to sound all intellectual in my critique. lol. Honestly, I don't have much in the way of useful suggestions to offer, as the poem is very obviously refined and finished. You've not a single wasted word here, and that's always where most of my poetry nit-picking comes to play. You know... remove a word here, add a word here, re-arrange the line, etc. It's very apparent to me that you've worked on this piece. It's not a five minute poem that so many poets on this site are famous for, and so I find myself at a little bit of a loss here, when I'm normally so darned opinionated. There you go. You've ruined me now
.
Having read over this poem more times now than I care to admit for fear of filling your ego, I can definitely see that, yes, I'm at a loss. lol. I had hoped, when I started this comment, I could offer something... anything useful. But now it's just turned into a kagillion line praise of your poem. Sigh. This was a beautiful honest write.
-
Gee, 'zis kriced?
I laughed my ass off! Beautifully, artistically, ironically ironic. What a wonderful poem, you bastard. I hate you for being on my favorites
-
Very likeable.
-
In the Sky' dumped
An enormous pitcher
Of watermelon sugar.
Mmmmm...watermelon sugar...can it get ANY sweeter than this?
Most excellent...
-
Ooohhh. What more can I say? This was captivating. I do believe this one got you added to my favorites. lol. Okay, well, I can't say one of the three more than the other two got you added, as they are all exceptionally good. But you know what i mean.
-
I've come to like Brautigans work alot though I definately can't say I know all of his work by a long stretch. I liked how you mixed alot of things from his writing into your own. The first 14 or 16 lines were really my favourite of it all though. Take care and God bless.
-
I like Richard Brautigan. I was just reading some of his works the other day. He had quite a sense of humor and an off beat way of writing. I lovoe the brevity of his writes.
Great write here.
~Dee -
this is definitely unique and well written. I cannot say I am familiar with this type of work, but I definitely have no criticisms of it.
well done,
Lea -
Surreal
I had to read the author notes to understand the previous comments..LOL A very intruiging piece.I think of trout fishing in Scotland but this definately gives a spin on it all.well written.Helen ;f -
ah ...okay but it sounds like the stuff i write while I am high or inder the influence and to tell the truth the greatest poets are those who can achieve that without being fucked up ... which i think you were ...or he was ...whatever ..well...peace ...THE DARK
-
Obviously it is necessary to take a great deal of drugs to be a good writer. Which you are. The drugs seem to be working great: This is superb.
-
This is a great line
As he sipped a 'tallboy'
And groped a short woman.
A truly wonderful piece. I love the surreal humor. -
This was great, Jim. I admit I groaned at a few places, but then again, shouldn't we groan in a few places? You caught the spirit and some of the particular details that could almost uniquely bring him back to life for us. This is a great tribute poem.
-
This is very different to what I've normally come across on AP... a very interesting and intriguing write... a little watermelon sugar for my brain LOL...quite an enjoyable read
-
hmmmm! I knew there was a reason I never took up trout fishing! Is watermelon sugar the same as watermelon wine? No wonder he dumped out a pink universe. May you continue to pour your universe out in inkjets. Personally, I'm still intrigued with the indigo velvet of our night skies.... LOL Very cheeky, indeed.
Edited on Feb 17, 7:50 because 'punctuation'. -
memorable
this is a very enjoyable homage to brautigan...
it's witty and funny and full of energy and great little images and details...
an excellent piece, with lots of word-play; the free-form poem is light in tone but serious in its accomplishment...
it is full of highlights, & i must applaud it...
thanks for posting this -
i'm glad i found this (i had been interested to check out your poetry because i read some interesting comments you left on other peoples poetry.
-
Although not familiar with Brautigan's work,[A treat I indend to consume soon[ I throughly enjoyed this surreal masterpiece.When the sun goes supernova I would like to be Trout fishing in your Himalayas with a cold one in one hand , groping a short woman with the other.Thank you for posting this entertaining read,Rob
-
Ah....a sort of Gonzo Poetry....had Hunter S. Thompson not discovered it as article material first..
I enjoyed this surreal foray into the hinterlands of the dry dusty trout fields of your mind's eye. Yes...I can hear the fish music on the velvet winds that waft in bubbles of expiring time.
Nicely told.
-
This was most intriguing. I intend to track down Brautigan's writing. I also need to find out what tallboys are. I'm inclined to wonder why you categorised this as adult.
-
funny puns...great!
-
So far, no cuffs. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong. ~ EZB
-
And you've managed to stay out of jail too?
Jim Dunlap
-
A wonderfully amusing piece of poetry, indeed. Drinking tallboys, and groping short women have been two of my favorite hobbies for years. ~ EZB
-
Ah, yes. A friend lent me a book of three of his works and I'm slowly reading my way through it though any reading these days is difficult with a busy, unrelenting schedule. But I do like Mistero Brautigan's originality and quirky style of writing, that weird humor that maybe one sometimes questions....
You have written a very good tribute and though I'm not as super-familiar with him as you probably are, I can see the sincerity in this and the style intentionally suggestive of his own.
Sometimes I think maybe the only way I could become a great writer is to really just go crazy and let go of my own head. =] Wish he was still alive, just to shake his hand. -
I apologize if anybody is bothered by the bad language but Brautigan wrote that way, and I was trying to eulogize him with a poem after his own heart (so to speak).
Adding your comment:
1 - 33 of 33
