Best Fish Poems
POINTING TO THE PROBLEMS
{Bivouacs}
Beat down with legal fees
Tied up with taxes;
Tripped up with mortgages;
Ripped off with student loans
Insulted with insurance
Telephone updates.
Out of date opts,
New upgrade rates;
Food on the down-low
Carrots in the closet;
Conjugating with fake rice.
Plastic cabbage, inedible corn.
Tomatoes with fish dung
Water with lead, flatulent cows
Polluting the air.
Carbon emission:
Beyond the stratosphere:
Halliburton and agent orange.
Nuclear explosion -radiation;
Devastating the atmosphere.
I can’t explain, with no
nutrients to the brain.
No minerals to the lungs n heart.
Contaminated nation;
Sheer contamination.
Is it too late, to rise above the hate?
Tired n Devastated, tried elevation.
Tried to immunize, and fine tune
My body to this new moon.
With herbs n mushrooms.
Sun Hot, Global Scorching...
Illuminati wants hearts,
and good body parts.
Neanderthals,running back to their caves
Underground bunkers, where they’ll be safe…
Americans dangling off bridges with knapsacks;
Flimsy structures and Bivouacs
No air, no food, no heat,
Not even water safe to drink.
Like Dinosaurs and bees, fast becoming extinct.
I can’t even think, with no nutrients to the brain.
No minerals to fortify lungs n heart.
Contaminated nation,
Sheer contamination.
With nowhere to run;
What do you think should be done?
Holding onto a rail.
I lean over to see my reflection
mirrored in the water
and small fish swimming
in the camouflage of me.
I muse whether they are feeding
on my thoughts, nibbling
on the strands that loosely
float my day, making
their easy way towards
a dark clumped deep
in my shadow.
I can almost feel
their small fins brush the inside
of my skull, following
the course of a fear,
threading passage
through a weedy tangle
of doubt.
Then, swimming deeper,
their excitement seems
to grow in what they find,
feeding on something
that is hidden from me,
beyond the reflection
of my own mind.
They walk silently along my hallways.
Floors littered with faded finery.
Do you remember my Granduer?
I had once been called the Queen of the sea.
Pulled down to the ocean's floor.
Swaying silently, so many sad souls
They are entombed here
Forever a part of me
Left to wander my halls
Sharing this watery hell
Faces frozen in skeletal grins
Evidence of our eternal sadness
Fish now swim across my stage
The band is silent
Still I remember
I absorbed them note by note
They played till my last moment
Yet it was not for my benefit
For I had betrayed them
My promises were empty
Temptation, travel, time together
Some mercifuly escaped
What did they remember of me?
Some came back in ghostly form
Searching for those I had taken from them
I will not release them
For I do not wish to be alone.
The mean old housecat has bulgy eyes
when she looks at us in our fish bowl
Oh, how much we've come to despise
that big mouth of hers, the black hole
Poised to pounce with sharpened claws
She's taking jabs with hatred brimming
that ugly feline beast with drooling jaws
for us little fishes, innocently swimming
Our little bowl is cosy, room for only two
bad kitty on the outside, always looking in
If her paw ever grabs us, what are we to do
we’d be much safer in a smelly sardine tin!
If she ever catches us, we’ve got big troubles
perhaps in her dreams she sees us as fat trout
In fear we produced a stream of gassy bubbles
If only our owner would give bad kitty a clout!
All the chaos made us soil ourselves with poop
so we let that mean old cat feast on a tasty treat
When her nasty tongue slurped intestinal goop
the beast screeched in horror! Revenge is sweet!
Our owner came home and cleaned out the bowl
Soon we returned to our safe sweet smelling home
Kitty got banned but can see us through the keyhole
Now we don’t suffer from irritable bowl syndrome!
I dreamt of blue birds
and buzzing bumble bees.
I roamed with the bison herds,
prayed with mantis on our knees,
and butterflies in the breeze.
I greeted the cheery chickadees,
dragonflies, and snowy owls.
I marveled at graceful manatees.
raucous sounds of guinea fowls,
and warblers’ velvet vowels.
I raved at ravens
dancing on a fertile field.
Mice sought havens,
safe shelters that red ants build
in hopes from spiders to shield.
I spotted rain-drenched
autumn leaves in tapestries,
their beauty strangely entrenched.
Purple hues imbued in varying degrees,
of gladiolas and sweet peas.
So many perfect pleasures,
many another than these.
All of God’s treasures,
created with love to please,
arranged to calm my world with ease.
A desperate spinster, Jane took
strong measures the day she would cook
fresh trout. Her date bit
the barb left in it!
He truly was caught on her hook!
4/26/2015
The fish is a creature cold and wet
Hooked by line and trawled by net,
Easy to catch and yummy to eat
Fried in oil or seared by heat.
I must admit I eat my share
So my guilt I sadly bear.
Handless and legless they strive to survive
Yet they are loved more....Dead than alive!
-But-
Fish cannot scream
Fish cannot yell
The pain from a hook,fish cannot tell.
Fish cannot scratch
Most do not bite
They go to the pan with little fight
-But-
What a frenzy,what a fuss
When one of them devours us!
It's on the telly,it's in the press
"Each shark killed is a monster less."
It's not in the press,its not on the telly.
How many of them are in our belly!
-But-
If fish could scream,if fish could cry
If fish had fur or big brown eyes.
If fish were dry and nice and warm
We'd never do them any harm.
We'd think them cute,they'd get respect
They wouldn't 'get it in the neck'.
Protest groups would march the streets,
And fish would multiply in peace.
-But-?
THE FISHERMAN AND THE MERMAID
A young fisherman berthed in Penzance
Went ashore one fine night to a dance
He woke up on his boat
With a mermaid afloat
The First prize in a card game of chance
So was spawned a cross genus romance
Though the neighbors regarded askance
They got married next day
In a church by the bay
And went off to a fish farm in France
August 2019
Given N/A in Contest: ‘Two Sea Themed Limericks’
A cat jumped in the river
to meet a fellow fish,
he wanted to be like them
it was his only wish.
He figured he could do it
he had everything it takes,
with whiskers on his front parts
and a tail a catfish makes.
He swam down to the bottom
while holding in his breath,
but soon began to worry
that this might end in his death.
His little heart was pounding
as he raced back to the top,
he determined if he made it
that he wasn't going to stop.
He broke the surface with a splash
and gulped in lots of air,
He climbed up the embankment
and ran like he didn't care.
He ran through empty fields
and to home ran all the way,
and when he got their safely
stopped to think about the day...
"I love to watch the catfish
as they circle down below,
they move around so effortless
and offer quite a show."
He wanted to be like them
so he thought, in blissful glee,
but then he came to realize
...'twas curiosity.
Their mesmerizing silky glide
and tantalizing tryst,
offered a temptation
that brings us to this twist:
The cat by then concluded
that it was to be his fate,
that he should rather have the catfish
on his dinner plate.
As wandering down onto the sunny, seashore one day
My grandfather and I, on the water’s edge, we stayed
The gentle ebb of the waters flowed in and out it goes
Lapping with delightful sensation in between, my toes
Just at the water’s edge, very faintly you could just see
A very flat sole fish just wavering and looking up at me
Grandfather said, of this fish we should always respect
For inside this sole fish, a dead departed soul was kept
I looked at the fish and the sole fish looked back at me
Within its eyes, the soul of the departed, looking at me
Now my Grandfather has now departed and I’m bereft
For a heartfelt message which just for me he never left
Now with each day, it is down to the water’s edge I go
As waiting, for my beloved Grandfather’s, soul to show
Our parents chose to join a cult
Nobody asked us
We went along with what they chose
Too small to make a fuss
Indoctrinated,we believed
This life was the norm,
We were fed on 'comic books'
Taught to worship ****.
While still children we became
'Flirty Fish for God'
We wore bright make up
Wore bright clothes
Walked dark streets alone.
We searched for men and sold them 'love'
They paid with souls and money.
We took them to 'church' convinced that we'd
Fulfilled all Gods wishes.
In innocence we walked the streets
We knew not what we did
Our parents were so proud of us
We were Gods'good fishes
.
Now this sect has all but gone
What's become of us?
Are we your neighbours or your friend
Maybe someone on a bus!
Are we filling up the jails ?
Or selling sex for pennies?
Are we shooting up with drugs
To blot out all our memories?
Are we alcoholics,drowning out our sorrow,
Pity the poor 'Flirty Fish
Fulfilling someone elses' wish
For them no bright tomorrow.
big strong furry brown
fishing for salmon with paws~
prancing through flowers
Date Written: 4/12/2022
3 Place
Howmanysyllables.com
Wild Animal Haiku Poetry Contest Haiku poetry form only. Sponsored by: Tania Kitchin
koi pond quietude
values and tones of zen stones
find repose and peace
Through the water they glide,
an immense mosaic of millions of silvery fish
on their migratory run,
obeying a call immemorial,
a mystery of aquatic unison
choreographed by instinct primordial.
They billow,
a grainy smoke cloud
in which light drowns.
A ruffling,
like an enormous bedspread
being shaken out in slow motion
by an invisible giant.
They turn into a mesh,
glistening, spinning around, tightening,
a net woven with fish for catching water.
They stretch,
a submerged galaxy
unspooling into a braided rope
in a blue universe.
They bank,
and silver ripples across the shoal,
a wheat field touched by a soaking breeze.
Then they move on,
flashing by,
like underwater rain falling sideways.
Before the predators get to them,
my eyes are feasting.
Going inward
Receiving moments of grace
While time unfolds
Touching your heart with my breath
An expansion
Doorways to enter
Each gift revealed through my willingness
Vulnerability my partner
Coaxing me towards unimagined pleasure and pain
Letting my mind expand
Memories of days
Exploring and discovering
Baiting my first hook
My Father’s deep voice guiding me
Watching his strong hands
Red wigglers in dirt
Alive in a styrofoam cup
We bait our hooks together
Plunge our fishing poles into the pond
A silent communication
Connection shared
Anticipation
Sunlight dancing off the ripples
A moment I carry with me now
Always grateful for my
Depth of consciousness
Inhaling, I travel through time
Naked, I make my way through
Beckoning aqua kissed waters
I look ahead and swim
Allowing sunrays to bathe my body in their warmth
Marbled hues sing out
Bubbles rise
Shadows and sunbeams in a lover’s embrace
I perform a weightless somersault
Smiling in delight as I catch glimpses
Of the watery kingdom encompassing me
Vowing to keep this sacred moment
Alive in my soul forever
From behind a towering coral
You appear
My royal rainbow Parrotfish
Who I have dreamed of
For an eternity
Come to me dear one
Show me your tapestry of glittering scales
Allow me to touch your soft skin
So I may delight in the magic
Of all that you are
Let us glide through the
Nuanced waters of life
Let us experience all the shades
Of dark and light as one
Fill our souls with laughter and love
Let’s ride these undulating tides with kindness
Touching the hearts of others
Joining hands with those in need
Creating an arena
Where all will be heard
Swim with me now
Let’s journey forth
Together my love
4/16/2023
A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE no 1208
Poetry Contest
Sponsor:Brian Strand
SECOND PLACE