What I wanted was to watch the fish forever — — how the waves would sweep them up, and carry them towards the shore. How they made the water glimmer, with their rippling bodies — Scared when we first saw them, laid on the sand in millions, dead, we drew back into the Santa Cruz cliffs. But I loved the sharp disgust we felt. I loved watching others crush them, loved feeling appalled. Later, we admired those who stepped on the fish, the contact between them. Furtive, we stepped too, then looked to see if anyone had noticed. Then we ran, and played with ocean foam and we forgot about the fish — — Now we drive, through Santa Cruz. And I roll down my window, eavesdropping on houses pushed together, sharing secrets. Out of the car, we run through the dark street, giddy, massive, and I hold myself, and think: this is the first time I have lived without a ribcage. We buy coffee, entrees, eating under diner-fluorescent light. I think: my heart has grown bigger than my hands — — And while we ran, and while we ate, the fish came back to life. Gills, crusted and sandy, bloomed outward to become legs. Mouths invited oxygen in with gasps; a million tails stretched out in ecstasy. With that first shock, they all jumped up: against the setting sun the fish were dark, the million fish, the fish — And ocean settles over me like a scarf, and I press scales into the corners of my eyes. Now I remember giggles that melted into ice cream on the roof of my car. Now I remember our legs, the outfit I had planned for days, the fineness of your hair. — The diner squatting furtive, dark, mosquitos whining, brushing the curve of your neck, the boy picking fish eyes from between his toes. And now I curve myself into ocean; now I loosen my hair, let it flower; now I remember canvas shoes you wore; the way my stomach ached; now driving into the butter air — — Now we are here: the three of us standing before a wave of fish. The sea takes the fish in and cradles them, and each tide whispers with the sound of fish scales scraping against rock. We don’t talk for a long time. I soften my gaze to look at the sun. In the light the scales glint. The fish blink, then wiggle.

Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
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