Cash Flow

Reserves on low, we found, astounded, just how
deep the well goes. The wide and intricate net
that holds together fast our world, catches the flow
of schools gone out of hand before we beget.
With visions of a great reset, they cast
their networks broad and wide, entrapping all:
Only they're on board; the rest of us caught fast
(One can always watch for a sudden squall).
The greediest fishermen reaping the catch
And, picking through the haul, they toss the small aside
Then all but dinner thrown in farms to hatch
and eking out existence, swimming circles we reside
and herein evermore. Why not let us swim?
The water flows free; us at the fishmongers' whim.


Hope you're having a good one, friends!!

a reply to: zosimov

The theme of the day seems to be FLOW.
see: Go with the flow.
To which I already replied.

The wind blows over valley and hill
while water downward travels still.

Wind will not reach the ocean floor.
Water though has been there before.

Now I worry for the fishes' plight
struggling hard day and night.

As if they had a single wish
to merely avoid the miser's dish.

a reply to: pthena

Hi pthena!

Hope you've been finding lots of cool stuff to photograph

Thanks for adding those lines (though sorry to add to your worry).

I like that theme, though.. flow. I'm starting to pick up a good creative flow again and am ready to ride with it.

Have a good one!

originally posted by: pthena
a reply to: zosimov
Now I worry for the fishes' plight
struggling hard day and night.

As if they had a single wish
to merely avoid the miser's dish.

This would qualify as a bonified epigram were it not for the weakening simile.

As it is - demerits! Go peel potatoes!

If pthena peels, I'll cook the soup and even bake some bread.

Only if you'd agree to play some music, and the party's on!

a reply to: zosimov

Yummm🥣

Sorry for holding myself aloof for a moment there. I was trying to digest your sonnet(?). Out to sea, as it were.

Fishing seems an apt metaphor for economic activity.

Give me metaphor powers, please?🐿

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

Hi DoE!
You're right--it's a sonnet (though having read through again I see I slightly missed the mark on the stress and meter)
I think I mixed a few related metaphors in there but ended up with something I wanted to share with my friends here.

I love cooking soup--potato is one of my faves too.

Hope you're having a good fall!

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

weakening simile.

As it is - demerits! Go peel potatoes!

I was merely avoiding politics.
Due to a previous conversation with my son in law, the fish would be a perfect metaphor for some people I was thinking of.

The potatoes I will peel
once I've settled what is real.

On hand now is freeze dried mashed
no whole potatoes do I have cached.

a reply to: zosimov

Loved your analogy...

During this covid deal, when i'm not working, I'm fishing. Caught a monster catfish, tons of bluegill and bass in the Rio Grande and the Acequias, A river not known for its fishing except at the headwaters in Colorado.

a reply to: olaru12

Awesome, amigo... maybe you could join our party and bring the grilled fish.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying free time on the Rio. Sounds wonderful!
Thanks for reading and stopping to comment.

a reply to: pthena

If dueling couplets is your aim
I happily will play the game
Perhaps we'll work up thicker skins
But freeze-dried taters? No one wins.

a reply to: zosimov

I'm working on some verses that I have to bend the meter a bit, too. I'm of two minds on it, I suppose. 1) I have an ineluctable impulse to hold out for perfection, yet 2) the blunting force of experience forces me to realize that holding out for perfection curiously results in much less output.

So I says to myself "Verses are tensile things, you captious and querulous fool! Bend 'em, stretch 'em, squish 'em...but above all git 'er done!"

originally posted by: DictionaryOfExcuses
a reply to: zosimov

So I says to myself "Verses are tensile things, you captious and querulous fool! Bend 'em, stretch 'em, squish 'em...but above all git 'er done!"

I love this quote, DoE, and it works perfectly in with our theme: Flow

Man, pthena must be peeling enough potatoes for all of ATS! I'll have to break out the cauldron.

a reply to: zosimov


Sorry. I fell asleep on the job.

For a little snack, I whipped up some freeze dried.

I like to melt a bit of cheddar in my mashed potatoes. There's some salmon dip though for those who prefer that. Did I hear mention of blue gill?

a reply to: pthena

I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle, having slept the better part of the last two days.
Whatever that was, I think I'm over it though.

Must have been some party! lol.

Hope you all are enjoying a good start to the week
As for me, I'm in the mood to write some more sonnets.

a reply to: zosimov

You need a loan? I'll speak to Tony. Don't forget the vig.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Lol, I know better than to sign anything you pass me way... I value my everlasting soul too much.

But a sincere thank you nonetheless.



Hope you're doing well my friend!!

originally posted by: zosimov
Hope you're doing well my friend!!

Very good, thanks. Always fun to read your writing.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Good to hear! And thank you for always reading and encouraging my writing.