qarrtsiluni

Deep in sea-rye live murmurs—
tales drifting to shore
about fish that can talk,
promise-making fishes,
wish-granting fishes, even fish
with human faces.

One such fish fetched up
in a net off the west coast one day
and spooked the crew, who calmed
themselves by teasing the youngest
among them. “Look, kid! Here’s
your granny! Or is it your girlfriend?”
The boy blushed, shuffled his feet,
looked out over the ocean.

The fish, who couldn’t talk,
lay dying on the deck. His life
flashed through his memory,
a saga of absurd yearning, a life
spent swimming from sea to sea
looking for faces just like these.

by Diane Gage

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