Sunday, January 30, 2022

Cruelty to Fish

 

Of course, the issue of cruelty to fish never really existed:

scaly, the antithesis of cuddliness; no legs, cross mouths

and eyes that don’t blink, well, that’s just freaky;

and, of course, they don’t scream, ugly looking critters

shaped like torpedoes; extra-terrestrial.


And still I remember the Siamese fighting fish that time after time

over days, returned to the bottom of the tank to try,

with a brush of its caudal fin, to relaunch its dying companion

or the girl in the shallows, playing with a rock salmon, lobbing it

a few yards out to sea and it returning like a dog with a ball;

was I not seeing the glint of a smile on its piscine features?

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