Monday, April 7, 2008

WE BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE FISH

(Ball and Net, giclée print on watercolor paper, © 2008 Liza Cowan)


WE BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE FISH

by Donald Hall, from White Apples and the Taste of Stone


It is unacceptable that fish prey on each other.
For their comfort and safety, we will liberate them
into fishfarms with secure, durable boundaries
that exclude predators. Our care will provide
for their liberty, health, happiness, and nutrition.
Of course all creatures need to feel useful.
At maturity the fish will discover their purposes.


© Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007

2 comments:

Jesse Wendel said...

Now that's fracking funny.

Maggie Jochild said...

This is why poets occupy front lines of so many revolutions -- and why the powers that be are afraid of us. This is the most succinct anti-Iraq-invasion piece of writing I've seen.