"Goldfish"
The left said we weren’t right
we were catscradles
lost and over-stitched in it all
The right said we were goldfish
in an over-crowded drowning bowl
fed on pronouns and dreams of an equal world
poetry skewered our lives
with the beauty of it all
but we were oblivious
to what was really
calling
Candide Diderot. ‘25
I have a cat
(or a cat has me),
a furry cat, a very purry cat
when on my lap it's sat,
independent it is
(egotistical too),
yet demands attention
(self-centred through and through),
and when well-fed, its purr
(a four-stroke motor),
is full of condescension,
when behind its ears you scratch
(it's expected of you),
you may believe you heard,
“Meow, meow, meow,”
(sorry, here's the catch),
what it really said is,
“Me now, me now, ME now!”
And, as goldfish swims in bowl,
cat looks on with danger fraught,
thinking, 'So near yet so far,
that fish is food for thought.'
in a tiny bowl
a goldfish will not grow large
push your boundaries
Hello Goldie,
why are you hiding my sweet girl ?
I am afraid that I am an orange freak,
afraid to whirl and twirl.
Oh Goldie you are beautiful and so unique,
so, swim and swirl with celestial mystique !
Yes, though a baby goldfish,
in this aquariam I am going to gleefully swish !
Come see my nails the excited young woman said
I went though I had a wet towel on my head
We were in the beauty shop, with faces red
Baby fish were in her nails. How could they be fed?
I was so horrified, I wanted to leave right away
But I had waited thirty minutes, so I decided to stay
Others ran over to look and said things merry and gay
I could not wait to leave; I finally ran out straight away
‘ How are you going on ? Hi, Goldfish !
You are so shiny fins seem polished:
Sparkling , glistening !
Are you listening ?’
‘Yes ! I am hearing, but no energy to reply .
You are providing ample food on supply.
But I’m confined in aquarium
Limited space no freedom !
Now I can’t swim free at random.
Feeling frolic seldom !
Sensing continuous boredom.
You are cruel, heartless,
enjoying my beauty, peerless.
I am imprisoned by you,
spending days in rue.
, A cheerful goldfish you have captured,
destroying my joy and rapture.
My sorrowful swimming you relish !
Always grief I’m to cherish,
Me the poor Goldfish.
I can’t sue,
but hate you.’
We were once bejeweled dolphins frolicking
within the starry glitter of a spiritual sea
our freedoms were gilded and fathomless
then eyeless ogres of mayhem and madness
steadily parched our happiness and peace
tempered our smiles, muffled our clicks...
until there was nothing, but blackness left.
They've molded us into skittish goldfish
trapped us in their rose stemmed glasses
feeding us a few rancid flakes at a time.
dictating, we should be forever grateful
to be in the shadow of their pseudo shine
for their plastic sextants and jagged kindness
thinking we need them to center our lives.
Dunking these vote centric peckers is paramount
now kick back, smoke a blunt, watch the buzzards drown.
I'm slowly evaporating from this verbal tennis match
For some reason we continue to give breath to these vapor windy circles
Brewing a coffee tornado that is going to spill all over my shirt
And they say don't cry over spilled milk, but there's a river of rain I've been holding back
And I'll be damned if I let this game end at 40 love
But is victory really as sweet when blood sheds from pain and not perseverance
I'll keep painstakingly swimming even when the water is above my head
Because when you take that 1 second to notice everything around you
The dirty food tables are eventually going to be clean
The question isn't who is going to do the dishes
But when will we stop acting like goldfish fighting in my dishwasher
And look outside the glass to see a whole world needing just one person to keep swimming
p.s. you don’t have to tread water when you can float with your reflection...
Goldfish were in a decorating contest this week
They painted their scales in patterns that peek
Outdoing each other in swirls, lines, shapes and dots.
I saw them as far away as twelve hundred knots.
The goldfish follows me
As I cross the room
Bubbles aerate his coral
His eyes darken
His movements deliberate
I fear he dreams
of being a shark
And of me
falling into his bowl.
So this is
my world, eh?
This is a square world.
Triangle?
Could it be a round ... okay?
Do they call this flying ... no?
I know that I'm not walking.
What am I doing?
I forgot.
I do that a lot.
Forget things.
Oh well.
I think I'll just swim.
That's it!
Swimming.
I'm swimming.
And all of this is water.
Though it's weird.
Water's free.
Wide and free,
It is not in this round ... bowl.
Water makes noise constantly.
They crash.
They're called waves.
They hit a thing called a beach.
There are others just like me.
Most differently.
But alas!
Something happens e'er so oft.
I get lost ...
My memory is as long as this bowl I swim in ...
Goldfish dream maker in her red pajamas with footsies
Is traveling the sky route with the wiggly jiggly gootsies
We don’t bother to give her a wave, for she is so busy.
If I had to follow her lead, I would be incredibly dizzy.
Their silver nightclub microphones were mega-big, giant size I’d say
Three sensuous singing goldfish stepped up to sing the night away
They started with Chattanooga Choo Choo which always makes me cry
Ending up with a hearts and flower song where some creepy guppies die.
Deep in the middle of the middle of the Indian Sea
Was a goldfish whisperer, who is known only to me.
I saw her in my dreams, wearing coral and green.
She enticed goldfish, they were flipping downstream.
They matched her dress, her demeanor, even her hair.
They seemed excited and enthusiastic beyond compare.
I had never seen anyone making these fish so happy.
The goldfish whisperer had them downright sappy.
Imagine that a cat and fish are friends,
well, my sweet kitty cat loves my goldfish;
hours and hours watching them she spends,
while they show off, dance, spin, whirl, twirl and swish !
She never tries to hurt them or catch them,
and I think that they feel safe in their bowl;
drifting- each like a floating golden gem,
could it be that they connect soul to soul !
One day her head was above the water,
I was worried till she gave them a kiss;
oh, relief there was no goldfish slaughter,
and the goldfish were still swimming in bliss !
Lesson ... if odd species can co-exist;
why, do people bully and hate persist !
Related Poems