All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
Litany of Fishbowls MAG
fish brains under the sludgy tips of my fingers and
i doubt this was the nautical coffin it was looking for
orange-yellow scales under the bloody tips of my fingers and
this kind of murder gets real plush and personal,
angsty masochist
pops all the pink, swollen hearts orbiting in a toilet-water galaxy
tuna fish girl
wears grape jelly lipstick and a fishbowl over her head
caught in an empty dream
of cold fevers and nebulous surfs
i’m a drunk astronaut floating
when the cosmos clash in love and planets split in two
like soft destruction
i fall victim to the tender horror of fish teeth poking through my skin
with my wet tummy full of
lovesick buzzards instead of midsummer swallowtails
i curl
into a broken womb
into a tarry honeycomb
into a cottonmouth’s hungry jaws
and prick my hollow lips with a barberry thorn because
it’s just a sappy tragedy i continue to kill for
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 1 comment.
Simply put, this poem encompasses a girl’s desperation for love. Her violent desperation is symbolized by the fish she maimed; her idealistic view of love is conveyed when she wears the fishbowl thereafter. The entire ordeal itself is an emblem of her self-torture, as she is willing to feel pain if that means being able to feel love or be loved. We each have our own version of what love truly is, and we’ve seen these versions expressed—whether it be through poetry, songs, stories, or film. There are way too many accounts of love or lack thereof. This poem is just one of them.