this father estranged from schools
enraged
at fools the mirrors
at fools as ponds to look into never
chose to leave the school for life as a lone grouper
a bewhiskered bottom-scraper making no marriages
eventually
lightless
then
sightless
in the dark water wood
in the the leaves of compression
in the algae on the lobes
in the barnacles of once-able
neither forward-looking nor infrared
the gill-trodden plates eaten alive by swarms
minute flocks of waxing wisdom
become immune to any system
scoff at the turn of any season
and shopping carts laden with very, very, very
clean children
and poor tasteless tomatoes
and the armor of fish, the scales of delight
not enough to ya put up a fight
and one wants the whales a-bob and a-bump
freed from their nets, me and my knife
and look me in the eye and bump me in the ribs and
exhale unto me the nascent reef of a new life
one wants to be the cutter of nets
the sleeper of dogs
the lifter of children
the darling of toddlers
the wise one among the clever engineers
the puppetmaster of one’s self
and how should i begin?
