'Send your sick animals to me'
Kim and I (but she was Marilyn Novak then)
We smelt fished at Belmont Harbor one April
As the restriction allowed but seeing as how
Smelt only ran in April anyway the restriction
To April was really much ado about nothing.
Smelt fishing happened only at night.
Did you know that? Probably not, with
Smelt fishing now a thing of the past.
April nights were chilly, the cold not
Ameliorated by our tiny Coleman stove.
By an unwritten rule the smelt had to
Be cooked immediately when snared
In the little nets, nor was it at all difficult
To fill a gallon-sized bucket with smelt.
However, Marilyn threw all of them back.
This was a person who in her bedroom
Window displayed a hand-lettered sign:
'Send your sick animals to me.' It seemed
She was no less concerned about saving
Smelt while I monkeyed with the stove.
'Where the hell are the smelt?' I asked,
But oh ho ho, she only shrugged and smiled
And Marilyn's smile could break your heart.
That night we fished no more. Back in my car,
A 1949 Chevrolet, I asked her to marry me.
'Buddha," she said -- I was called Buddha
In those days -- 'I love you but the thing is
'I'm leaving tomorrow on a cross-country tour
'To model refrigerators at trade shows for
'A big refrigerator company. I'm sorry, Buddha.'
That was in 1953. In Los Angeles Marilyn
Won the title of Miss Deep Freeze and soon
Her name was Kim. I never saw her again.
As for the smelt, they wised up so no longer
Running in April they started running in May.
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