Rose finally gets a fish

 

1.

Her months of drawings, pressure                   ; reminders
to our whispered ears, to

plastering the fridge with several clones

of her single magnet-held artwork: “fish,” she writes, above
each sketch of same, “I want one.” I, for one,

hesitate to introduce a new character

into this household menagerie, with the increased risk
of cancelling the whole business. Richie’s brother Chuck

from Happy Days’ first season, or to simply

jump the shark.

 

2.

She wants a fish.                      Demands: a pet of her own,
to share with younger sister,

since I refuse to entertain a dog           ; our cat
would tarnish, and my difficulty with lack

of unaccompanied urban territory. A dog

requires an excess                    unavailable. I originated
from a farm                 , after all, where dogs

possess the amplitude
to roam.                       Preferring, also, not

a defecated yard. Rose              wants a fish, she
wants a fish, she wants a fish. In case

the message was unclear. She offers
promises of pet care and routine,

hoping someone will believe her.

 

3.

Bellwether, prep; to establish and assemble her aquarium

before any fish might land. Rose plucks

a castle, mermaid                     , small plastic greenery; harvests
two small bags of coloured gravel. Her bearing, shifts,

she vibrates, crosswise; strums                         PetSmart shelves.
Each step

a stop, a break                          in linearity. She laughs,

ahead of her own debate. With fresh tank sidelining
her seasonal e-learning retreat

of former dining room, she holds: the soon-keeper

of the sacred fish.

 

4.

This biological                         filter media. Her fishless
ten-gallon vessel, which will be,

soon enough. How water catches sound
in motion, motion. Apparently boundless. This approximation

of a single misstep, stanza,

verset, word. Once home, and set                    , she stares, across

this dimpled glow                    of light-emitting diode
into oxygenating water.

 

 

Parallel investigation

 

1.

Does the appearance of               emerging author
suggest the alternate                    , of retreat?

 

2.

I rarely daydream                        in rhyme.
Degrees, experience,

a polished stream of alternates, floating down
the spring excess

of the floodplain               at Riverside.

I respond better to syntax

than to philosophies.                              I respond
to kindness.

 

3.

Scientists determine                    that bananas           cause anxiety
in male mice. What

might this prompt in them. Anxiety,

and fear. Hot vax summer, hot girl summer, hot
hot

hot. One might ask           the moon,
after so many poems, what

has it done for me  in return.    
Absolutely nothing.

 

4.

I am behind on further tasks                  than can be dreamt of
in your philosophy.

 

Autobiography

 

 

1.

For a fraction of a moment,

this layered barcode                     of homespun wisdom:
a pinch of salt

to keep new jeans   from dimming; kitty litter
in a tied-up sock

to maintain an unfrosted             interior

overnight front windshield. A remote source
of any Ottawa winter.

 

2.

A statement as quick                   as the human heart.

Adept                     , and sensible,
we brace       against steel. Since I am background,

foreground, empty. Both pleasure and displeasure,
we revise, reorganize. Amend.

Wordle: of the day            , I’m dead.

 

3.

Monday morning’s tempest                   of circulated
January air. Christine

isolating in the girls’ room , solo            having
tested Covid-positive. Both of us boosted

, parenthetical.                             Day three

of a potential five.  

 

4.

They say there is a language

for every season. Solitude, soluble. A trick

of the eye.    How a telescope can capture light

estimated                at some fourteen billion years.
Adnan: I need to circle the mountain,

because I am water.                     As she knew then:

because this continues to be                  about who remains,
and who                 might still advance. And what

the difference.