A Fish Story
We took our little son to a carnival
He must have been five or six
And we came across a game
Which if you won, you won a goldfish.
I didn’t want a goldfish but my son did
So I threw something that connected
With something
And the little boy came home with a goldfish
in a water-filled plastic bag
He was so happy and we were happy
For him
But the next morning he came to our bed
Crying
It seems he tried to change the water
But he did it over the toilet
And the fish dropped down
Forever lost
The boy was crying so hard, poor thing
And so I told him that the fish
Had made its way to the river
And was with his mother and father and brothers and sisters
And friends, oh yes friends
A 60 year old lie which I wish I could believe in now
To meet my mother and father and sisters
And brother again
And oh yes, all those old friends.
Poem by Seymour Shubin Drawing by Michael Franklin 1999, age 6
