FLY FISHING ON CANNON'S POND

Fly fishing

Cannon's Pond

A new poem from my upcoming book, "Fishing Kids" 

Belding Michigan my hometown

Supported a large ice house in the 1930s

They constructed their dam on Cannon’s Creek

And captured thick ice in winter

Cannon’s Pond attracted kids

For great fun ice skating

Before cutting ice blocks

Stored in ice house till summer

Two feet of sawdust insulation

One summer my Buddy Russ and I

Decided on fly fishing in Cannon’s Pond

Both Dads . . . no trout there

Both sons . . . let’s go fishing

Try the new flies we tied

I cast first fly with my fly rod

Way out into the pond

Reeled in slowly as if a living fly

Ross cast his fly out further

Patience . . . we tried for patience

Tried again casting both flies

Closer to east end creek entry

Bam . . . Russ got a bite on his fly

Wham . . . I got a hit on my fly

Reeled in two beautiful rainbow trout

The fishing kids strike again

What to tell Dads

What not to tell others

 More trout are up stream a ways

We head home laughing happy fishing kids

Belding had an icehouse

Belding had a trout stream

Belding had the fishing kids

Thank you for constructing the

Cannon’s Creek Dam

We didn't need the icehouse forever

But fisherman will need the Cannon’s Creek Dam

Forever

Copyright...E. John Knapp...2013

Cannon's Creek Dam

ADVENTURES IN THE MEADOW

My Front Porch in Belding, Michigan
where I grew up during the Great Depression.

JOIN ME in a tale about my buddy, Russ, and I and the mischief
we could get ourselves into while sitting on this front porch!

A poem from my upcoming book,
MY FAMILY:
How We Survived the Great Depression

ADVENTURES IN THE MEADOW

Seated on our front porch

one Saturday morning

looking west across our street

I see an open vista

Moore’s twenty-acre meadow

my buddy’s dad owned the land

way across the field I see

fenced railroad tracks

a couple of trains each day

the neighborhood kids considered

the grassy meadow our playground

including the tracks

built-in fun to play

what new childhood mischief

was this day cooking up

my buddy showed up sat down

some projects started to generate

on their own

in fall looking forward to

football

a little winter talk about

snow skiing

much winter talk on

ice skating

lots of spring talk about playing

basketball

some summer talk about

baseball

during one summer day

how can we prepare for ice skating

when the rains come

water flows south downhill

let’s build an earth dam

east-west

catch about a foot deep pond

this winter will be our skating pond

dig,  dig,  dig half the day

about a hundred feet of

earth dam

you think teens are lazy just watch us

there were horses and cows chewing grass

all over our meadow

my buddy’s dad owned the meadow

for his horses and cows

what the heck are you kids up to

the horses won’t like this dirt line

explain

next winter’s skating pond

right next to a drain trench

where was the water coming from

rain

you mean you guys are thinking ahead

of course

who figured out this idea

we did

we forgot to ask the horses

if skating good idea

ok kids keep digging and building

but avoid my garden

yes sir

my buddy and I and some friends

talked about building

a baseball diamond

next to his dad’s garden

bat the balls away from not into garden

family needs produce for money is scarce

ever play baseball

with only five or six boys on each team

started with four boys each side

grew to six and seven each team

had one ball two bats three gloves

we were in baseball heaven

the horses didn’t object

and the cows were quiet

played ball all morning

Mom yelled stop playing

come eat lunch

score six to eight

after ten innings we quit

see you tomorrow

meet me on the front porch

Copyright....E. John Knapp....2012

From Chapter 3: WALKING BY GERMAN POWS

Mr. & Mrs. Forman, the English farmers who did our laundry
and introduced us to English muffins and jam.

WALKING BY GERMAN POWs 

Captured German soldiers

Prisoners of war

Laboring in the English potato fields

Near Thorpe Abbotts, England

Population fifty people

100^th Bomb Group Air corps Base

American Combat Group flying B-17s

Were living down the lane

Population five thousand men

Who does our laundry

I had soap and dirty clothes

Thorpe Abbotts had farmers

Living down the lane

We hired a Thorpe Abbots farmer’s wife

To wash our socks

Paid her well

One day I was walking

Down the lane

And saw a dozen German POWs

Working in the English potato fields

With pitchforks, rakes and shovels

I was an American Lieutenant 

In uniform

But I was hesitant

Being so near the enemy

With no gun

An English armed guard saw me

He knew my hesitation

"Hello, Yank!

I’ll walk ye along."

So my laundry was done

Courtesy of a Thorpe Abbotts farmer's wife

And my fears were calmed

Courtesy of a British Army guard

Copyright  E. John Knapp   ’08