“surfacing”
I had two goldfish when I was kid
For a while, they lived with my
Turtle, they were originally part
Of this school of fish we gotPo
For my turtle to eat but the
Resulting carnage was such
A mess that we never did it
Again
For some reason, Filburt ate
All but two of the goldfish,
And they grew in size
Until they were nearly
As big as Filbert
I named them Dotty
And John for the strange
Black spots they had
All over their bodies —
John had a stripe across
His upper lip that looked
Like a mustache, so i
Named him john after
John astin, the guy who
Played gomez Addams
On the old tv show
Dotty died first, and I’m
Pretty sure I woke up
And found her one
Morning and flushed
Her
But John lived for
Awhile longer, and
I remember the night
He died
He was limp in the tank
Floating around with his
Body crooked into a C
Shape, and every now
And then he would
Thrash and thrash
Raging against the
Dying of the light
It was as if he was
Falling asleep and
Struggling to stay
Awake
I heard him struggling
To keep the life flowing
Through him, but it was
Time and I found him
The next morning
Later on in life, I was
Working for hospice and
I met this woman north
Of Utica named Joyce
Robinson, and she lived
In a trailer park and the
First time I delivered to
Her I ended up staying
A good half hour chatting
With her on her front porch
Nice old lady, very plain-
Spoken, talked about her
Son a lot
I kept bringing her stuff
Over the course of the
Next month, and I remember
One time towards the end
She was lying in bed and
She kept waking up, starting
Awake like she was waking
From a startling dream, her
Mouth would fly open and
She’d gasp and her arms
Would fly up like she was
Trying to grasp at something
Like she was trying to swim
And that was the last time
I saw her — the pick-up
Papers were on my to-do
Pile only a day or so later
