Bream, North Queensland 1959.(Poem)

 
BREAM, NORTH QUEENSLAND 1959 
 
   A farmer took his young son fishing 
   three or four times in all. 
 
   He showed the boy how he untangled 
   shrimp from the water-weeds, how he 
   marked the good spots with pebbles, 
   how he threaded bait on the hook, 
        cast away from the bank, 
        sat quietly for hours. 
   He explained why the mullet 
   snapping in midstream were of no interest. 
 
   Just once, the boy hauled in a fish, 
   a red bream as big as his face. 
 
   These were the only times the man spent alone with the boy 
   once the nights of infant screaming were over. 
 
   When the man died, 
   the boy, now a man, did not weep 
   until he remembered the fishing. 
 
   But there's more than one dead man in this story. 
 
   The first white settlement on the North Johnstone River happened in 
   1875. A man born ...