Fugu Poem by Diana Rosser

Time passes

The child that built sandcastles
meters across
is long gone

castle turrets adorned
strong wide walls
battered by spade
baked by sun

cannon balls
pounded the incoming sea

the tide could never be
held back

when it was out
you could walk a long way
towards the reef

swimming through the
rock pools
with the puffer fish

getting them to puffer up
with their spikes
sticking out like a hedgehog

slow swimmers
it was easy to catch them
though you had to
be careful of their poisonous
spines

it takes seven years
of training to slice them
into Fugu on a plate.