Take the F...ing Fly

THE FUNK cloaks my heart,
Hazes my mind,
Chokes out fun,
Good friends and sunshine.

All for a fish
That will eat that f*king fly.

The above is an example of the text found in Milt Mays' fabulous little book Take The F*ing Fly, which is a series of small, almost haiku-like poems, together creating one long epic poem. It's beautifully illustrated with watercolors by Mike Friehauf - or is that water color like photo manipulations? No matter what they suit the mood and style of the book perfectly.

We're not talking how-to, where-to or anything really practical here. Just a few pages expressing the feeling of frustration mixed with joy that we all know.

It's a book right after my heart and I wish there were more of its kind in fly-fishing. Sometimes the factual can be so boring and unsurprising. It's liberating when people do something different.
And Milt Mays has done that here. He usually writes suspense, and even though this book is vaguely exiting - will that fish take the f*ing fly? - it's not suspense as you normally understand it.

But it's brilliant.

Read more about Mays, his fishing and his other books on his web site.

Poetry