'Among the frantic menhaden'

Atlantic menhaden.

"Trolling for Bluefish,'' lithograph by Currier & Ives, 1866.

As if the banks were lined by spiders

Tossing long, shimmering filaments

The river crawls along like prey.

I’ve come, parked with rest,

All our radios on to the local station

For news of ourselves, in between the music

Hard people are soft on. Cut-bait, treble-hook plugs,

Wobbling spoons, plop among the frantic menhaden.

-- From "Bluefish Run, Machias, Maine,'' by Paul Nelson