She Is There Poem by RIC BASTASA

i see some bamboo poles

lining up

on the shallow sea

she is there

watching some fishes without fins

without scales


she is there on some exclamations

this cannot be!

this cannot be!


the fish i know have fins!

the fish i know have scales all over their elongated bodies!


the fish i know can swim!


why are these fishes dying?


why are these fishes swimless in the sea where they belong?


yes my dear, the fishes and the sea, you do not belong there

the fishes are not yours and you do not belong to them

they have their own salty, slimy, scaly world,

they have gills and fins and round eyes

that do not blink

so you cannot tell them what to do, what to become.

in fact, you are neither fish nor fowl