The Fish Ladder
To be the fish on the ladder
and not know what it means. To feel the bronzes,
the pearls, the greens, but in a context
of pure combat. To fight the literal stream
we hurl ourselves into for no
discernible purpose, other than some molecule
says it will be worth it. To feel
worthless enough to listen. To feel
something rather than nothing—the rungs of it
a punishment, a goading
into againstness, against the current. To come to know
the concrete intimately. To come to know
what we want is. To come to know what we want isto be the fish on the laddernonetheless. To feel the sunlike a god we can discern. We hurl
