Mexico Beach has a Ling Tournament every year.
The ling is the cobia. Seine fishermen call them
shiteaters, because when you defecate over the stern,
they come up and eat the feces. Owen used to catch them
on the Friendship. He would clean them and give them
to old people, who were always glad to get a mess of fresh fish.

Timothy Weeks wrote Ol' Middler Saves the Day,
about Hurricane Katrina. One time on my walk the Friendship
steamed by and I waved at the deckhand and he waved back.
I thought it was Owen and he thought it was me. Fathers and sons.
What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? Homeless.
Barfield used to sleep on the Friendship. He had a pair of flip flops,
two T-shirts, and two pair of cut-offs, one wet and one dry.
He got his mail at Dee's Oyster Bar and Mexican Restaurant.
I see Barfield at the library. We talk about our operations.