It is 5 a.m. /
“they arrive
through the skylight
partaking
of a similar light /
transparent
diffuse /
colloidal
yet discrete like
jelly-fish.
I rise from the
bottom
of the pool.
Eager
to be friends, I
exclaim,
“glub glub,”
wave my
tentacles
at them.
All ten, twenty-six
of them
do not reply. All
the faces
are mine: dog-fish,
cat-fish,
angel-fish, sharks,
whales,
porpoises, salt-sea
salmon.
All the mouths are
working
in rhythm: they keen
like wolves.
Silently. Close-open
close‑
open: hungry
hungry
what to do?
II
I feed them papers
my student’s
papers. “ESSAY FOR YOU.
BLUE-BOOK
FOR YOU. TERM
PAPER FOR YOU
AND WATCH THE STAPLES.”
They like the food.
It is/
gratifying thus to see
them eat./
I run out of prose /
give them
poems. They quiver
and whimper
with delight. Silently.
Emboldened,
I offer poems
with my teeth.
I lick their
tongues
tickle their gills.
We are friends: it
is warming
truly warming /
a fire
begins in each gut /
the papers
are burning / fire
shines
from every gut.
Oh warm: we dance
in the light /
the water boils /
fire
and warm /
we dance
friends
we dance
III
SONG: SOLO
Oh the merry conflagration!
See the pretty papers burn.
Hark! The swift assimilation!
When is it to be my turn?
CHORUS: EN MASSE
Oh the very best fire
is a poem fire
a poem fire
a poem fire
Oh the very best fire
is a poem fire
Oh when
do we feed
the poet?
IV
They rise to the skylight
I TOO WISH TO RISE.
TAKE ME TOO.HERE FOR YOU
TOES & TENTACLES: EARS & EYES.
They turn into night.
BURN ME IN FLIGHT!
But not yet dead, I have nothing to give
them, nothing to give.
I turn into drowning / the water is cool, and Ah, the first light bends in the black pool.