Nahum

That Tremendous Fish

So, I let the fish go, but it did not swim away,

remaining instead port-side of the hired boat,

right eye staring unblinking into my startled gaze.

I raised the revs on the motor but it stalked me.

The bows pushed harder against algae and water,

the engine spilt rainbows, rainbows, rainbows.

That fish, which had not fought against my rod

and when netted looked defeated and sullen,

must have found forgotten zest, for when I reached the quay it leapt

into the vessel and lay twitching before my children

who had come down smiling to applaud

whatever catch I may have caught for them.

They all saw the five hooks in that veteran’s lip,

the snapped lines hanging down gills and breast –

medals for battles that should not have been fought.

And we all breathed in the terrible oxygen.