The shoulder is the hero of his
body. The shoulder lifts the arm
as the arm lifts the rod and reel.
The muscles housed in the shoulders
propel the drift boat forward as the arms
drag the oars backward. To carry, to take
up, prop up, to brace and bolster, to assume
responsibility, to commit. One must
point the drift boat toward the danger
in order to reverse away from it. The
shoulder’s mobility is its instability.
The fish is shoulderesque in its supple
strength. It is the first and last
resting place, the broadest expanse,
the hanging bar for the sculpted
windmills of the arms. It is what he
cocks so that he can hold his son’s hand.