The articulations of an angler are the focus of a new book by retired University of Idaho English professor Ron McFarland of Moscow, who shares his misadventures and “occasional, rare successes” as a fly fisherman.
“Professor McFarland in Reel Time,” is a small collection of poems, essays and lighthearted stories about McFarland’s experiences in all kinds of waters, from Florida to Idaho.
McFarland’s writing has appeared in Gray’s Sporting Journal, Whitefish Review and other periodicals. The book was published by A Word with You press and is available at BookPeople of Moscow and online.
McFarland’s next project is “Gary Soto: A Retrospective,” a study of the poems and prose of the prolific Chicano writer, scheduled to be published in 2021.
— Jennifer K. Bauer
POEM FROM “Professor McFarland in Reel Time”
Foreshadowing
By Ron McFarland
All winter I’ve told myself I’d shrug off the cold
and go ice fishing out at the reservoir. My wife
foresees me plunging through the ice,
following my manual augur into the murk
all for the sake, she thinks, of a couple of
small trout. Now the ice has resigned itself
to melting in the wind of an unexpected chinook
leaving me headed to the supermarket. My wife,
acknowledging my brief disappointment,
winks into the always unpredictable sun.
