Canvas chair

They’re all dead now.

my dad, my uncle

my uncle that wasn’t an uncle.

They weren’t that old 

but they seemed old 

to me at five or six 

and they would  go down 

to the river to fish,

my dad to fly fish 

my uncle to catch some bass 

and my uncle 

that wasn’t my uncle 

just liked to catch fish 

blue gill, shellcrackers,

bass, crappy, anything that bite.

Turns out I’m more like him 

than dad or my uncle 

but I never went fishing 

with any of them 

I was too young 

I’d see them 

loading up the jeep 

or the pick up 

or sometimes even 

the Mercury sedan.

My uncle always carried a pistol 

In case of snakes, he said.

The thing I remember 

the most though

is the slightly musty smell 

of the canvas chairs

that folded up 

and went in their own little bag.

I have one now 

a lot like that 

but mine doesn’t ever go 

fishing or hunting.

Occasionally, when

I take my kid camping 

I’ll throw it in the back 

and open it up 

and sit by the fire. 

I wonder what they

will remember someday?

Maybe a chair?