FISH
Hemingway dreams of an old man mastering Mother Nature
Wrestling single-handed with a 200 pound marlin
off the Gulf of Mexico while I tussle
with Ernest and the semi-unconscious of the U. S. of A
Ernest loves a drink, his blood, and a fight, his meat.
He’s got grit ‘n’ spit ‘n’ spunk in his veins
He should’ve been a matador
Bulls are only one vowel away from ‘balls’
And they are built with horns
No prize for guessing what the cat means there
Herman Melville got it on with a cat named Ahab
Fed his leg to a fish called Moby Dick.
What kind of a name is that to give a fish that will be studied in the schools?
Moby Dick was big and he was wild and he thrashed around a lot
Which is kinda funny when you think about it
You may as well give us a story about a killer whale and call it ‘Free Willy’ or somesuch
But now I am being ridiculous
Horatio Hornblower
What kind of a name is that?
All the American heroes
Why’ve these cats all got weird names?
John Wayne was called Marion
He would have preferred Marlin, I bet,
But Brando beat him to it
And became a four hundred pound Marlon
Marion and Marlin
So close and yet so far.
If the U.S. of A. was a land of milk and honey,
Did the early pilgrims in their coastal habitats have too much fish in their diet?
What is fish roe, anyway?
Whatever it is, I think the founding fathers O.D.’d on it
Anna Chen
Pic: Mike Lesser
Taken from Reaching for my Gnu from Aaaargh! Press.