The Fisher by Joel Glickman August 6 , 2015
The fisher feeds on squirrels , mice , porcupines , raccoons , rabbits , etc . captured by tireless pursuit .
– A note card in a taxidermy display case , Ashland , Wisconsin , County Courthouse lobby
For these critters , it is simply predation , nothing personal .
But I am the etc . For me it is different . I am its special project , its cause Celebrex . I saw it only once , and that was on a night last spring , with the dog , going south and homeward on the avenue . It moved west to east on Seventh , flat out , crossing the boulevard , past the house , beneath the madness of the full moon , too low-slung for a bobcat , too long for a fox , much more muscled than the other weasels , more intent , and before it will take me , it will have sniffed out every place I have ever been by the lasting scent of every thoughtless , hurtful , ill-considered thing that I have done .
How it did run ! I am guessing : further east , down and up the deep ravine , out of town , along Potato River , south to Gurney , west again at Mellen looping northward to the Finger Lakes , Pine Creek at the confluence , following in ever smaller circles the me I thought I wasn ’ t anymore .
Beneath the gibbous moon , the harvest moon , the strawberry and the blood moon , the fisher runs and runs . The insects throb .
The darkness fairly hums . I lie there listening to it all and pat the dog and think of what the bite will feel like when it comes .
Row House by Matt Widen