I. goldfish
hi!
hi.
how are you doing?
good. let’s not have sex
haha okay you are very concerned about that
no! wait concerned about what
not having sex
no! wait concerned about what
you just said that
said what?
don’t worry about it
ok
we should stick to the rules we made for ourselves before we started tripping right?
right
that’s how consent works right?
right
ok then let’s not have sex
what?
maybe next time we can write out exactly what we want to do to each other so we
nodding
don’t get overwhelmed
what?
i was saying
i’m sorry, language how is it working
haha
i can’t remember anything that happened
yeah i was just saying…wait, are you crying?
no, no, just, words, i’m sorry, words
words
i feel like a baby
baby
how is it working
hi!
II. Chinese Grocery Store
Glommering swollen fish with muscles
shining brown pulled out of green water
at a Chinese grocery store by my house.
Head and tail held town while struggling
Maybe if it could scream or yell or scream
Or if it had arms it might survive and fight
I felt my own arms grow into my side
My lids dried up, eyes yellowed and slack.
You came back with a box of roasted nori
made a joke about lying there like a cold fish
and I mouthed a lot of things wordlessly.
My feet slipped out from under me
And I flopped on the floor gasping.
“are you ok?” you asked.
Look, I just literally turned into a giant fish and
since there is no way you’re going to fuck me now
You might as well cut my head off and eat me.
III. ergo, ergot
A corona a corona a corona
I was drawing fish with teeth and
you had just put on My Sharona.
“Try to seduce me.”
“um, I…I don’t know how.”
“you’re beautiful, just try”
So I cut myself medially in half
with a palette knife, from throat to lips
scraped all the micro organisms out,
compacted them into a triangular organ
that can feel,
buzzing at a resonant frequency to yours.
But I can hear them talking in high pitched tones
and I think they are planning a mutiny!
I panicked and squished them back inside my gut
placed flowers all around them
a corona a corona a corona
and glued myself back together.
You replayed My Sharona.
Later I died from sepsis.
May 25, 2013
Categories: Poem . Tags: fish . Author: Jayinee Basu . Comments: Leave a comment