In the Shark Tank
In the
shark tank
the
herring has no chance.
His
numberless school can only
fracture
and sacrifice
those
who are slow,
who butt
their heads
against
the glass reefs,
careen
in panic into teeth,
swallowed
into darkness
digested
and deboned.
You need
greased gills,
acres of
waves and a following sea
to
outrun a shark.
~October 2012
55
red herrings for the g-man
Had to post an old one I had in reserve. Late to the party again, too.
Image:
Sharks of Suburbia, by Michael Sowa
All
Copyright belongs to the copyright holders.
Almost makes me feel bad for the little critters... well done!
ReplyDeleteThe futility of their situation is brought home by offering an escape that can only be had outside the tank. Well done, indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, we think there is safety in numbers, that the walls can protect us. But in fact, such a course can only leave us hoping those around us get eaten so we may live cuz we know, some will be eaten.
ReplyDeleteBetter i think, to break away~go rogue~head for open water.
Nice write, Hedge. You always make me think
Thank you rick. Thinking is good exercise for the brain muscle. The pity in this poem is that there is no open water in a shark tank.
Deletei escaped the tank! ha...oh inside you have to watch cause sharks will def eat each other if there is a lack of anything else as well...oh yeah the only escape is outside the tank...smiles.
ReplyDeleteyou sure i didnt read this one before....grins.
'A following sea' indeed! -Love the intensity!
ReplyDeleteHi Joy, I thought I commented but it was early this morning, such a vivid description of the enclosed life. Watch out, little guys!
ReplyDeletePS - just noticed that this is older. Hope you are feeling okay. Kind of a grim time of year I find - too much to do, and dark. k.
DeleteHanging in there, but I find the holiday season through January my worst time of year--thanks for asking. Do you think it's our Scandinavian heritage? Months of darkness and so forth? I especially hate it when I can't write;like being plugged up in the nasal passages, breathing is harder.
DeleteI don't know. You have very high standards with your writing - much higher than mine - so that could present a different kind of difficulty. You may also feel a certain pressure of expectation. I find with the nano I can only write it in the notebook this year, can't bear to type - it seems too dumb or boring etc. - but usually I can get something down. (Whether I'll transcribe it is a different matter.) But you know I'm guessing that have the advantage of a great deal of distraction - on the one hand it drives you crazy, on the other hand, it can provide bit of protective cover from the super ego. But I know that when I have no time or space or faith, it really does become hard to cope, so you have my most sincere sympathies. I'm sure (i) that being Scandinavian doesn't help and (ii) that things will get easier soon.
DeleteI found your Stevens poem very inspiring by the way. Since reading, I've been thinking about the Found a jar in Tennessee one. Have to find and re-read. k.
I don't know about the high standards--I just find it hard to accept things that don't have a spark of some kind for me. I can write a volume of words, but who can't? It's finding something to say with them, finding the ones that have some life of their own, that is what I mainly enjoy about writing. Without that it seems dry and not very fun. But I agree, these kinds of things do always pass, as does the winter low light and stress. It's a cycle, and like any other kind , bi, tri or uni, we ride it. ;-)
DeleteDon't worry about looking up the Jar poem--I'll post it for Off the Shelf, which is overdue--it's one of his that you can read a million times and still wonder if you have opened the lid.
I am laughing at your volume of words! And who can't? Well, I have a feeling that your volume is somewhat different than most people's volume! (All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!) Ha. (I don't think I've ever actually seen that whole movie, but I have somehow seen that clip!) k.
DeleteInteresting, while the shark is the prime creature in the tank, he's a captive, too.
ReplyDeleteGreat images, ideas to ruminate here, Joy. If you smell something burning, it's just me thinking. :)
"....and I'm just like that bird....Ohhhhhhhhhh,singing just for you,I hope that you can hear...hear me singing through these tears.". Fantastic. Great photos. Lots of emotions. Kind of pumped. Kind of wondering where the time went. Just moved by the words and music.
ReplyDeletelike a corkscrew through my heart/ever since we've been apart...the Spanish subtitles are also cool I think, as Spanish is a language of poetry, and they read in free verse. There are some very seldom seen pics in there, too. Thanks Scott, for enjoying the music with me.
DeleteBeautiful. I enjoy how this poem and the painting work together. Made me try to discern who the sharks are in my tank. For the moment, I have the illusion of safety.
ReplyDeleteI ALWAYS enjoy your verse. It takes all of this to stay ahead of the sharks, especially a following sea (love that!).But as you say, there's no open water in the shark tank. We can only hope for camouflage in the surf, safety in numbers.
ReplyDeleteThat's why it's better to be a shark.
ReplyDeleteWorks well enough for people, I guess!
ReplyDeleteI so relate to the herring. Been there, done that. Well written, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteahgghhh I'm suffocating! It's a tight spot. For all the butting and careening and swallowing, it is a closed case, short lived, left with a smatter of digested and deboned. This is a fantastic 55.
ReplyDeleteI love this! The rhythm is just amazing! I could almost hear the theme to Jaws as I was reading.
ReplyDeleteIt all depends where you rank in the food chain I guess...
ReplyDeleteYa Gotta eat!!
Why wouldn't you have published this before? It was AWESOME!
Loved your allegorical 55 Moonbat.
Thanks for playing, I'm always honoured...:-)
Have a Kick Ass Week-End
The last three lines make a great finale.
ReplyDeletethrow the whole lot into boiling water, feed a million! ;)
ReplyDelete[google killed my previous blog, taking with it 2-3 GIG of my writings/collectibles, w/o asking if i wanted to save any! GRRR]
That's horrible!!! I am so glad I back everything up--not that I can find it, but it's around here somewhere...that's got to be very discouraging, my friend.
DeleteLike eating fish in a barrel? I'm with your first commenter, it makes me feel rather badly for the herring.
ReplyDeleteFrankie Ford would love your labels.
Nothing but the truth (nothing fishy) in this 55. Were you a herring in another life, or a shark, I wonder? Great image too.
ReplyDeleteWanted to comment on your "NOT" over on your sidebar...I love it. Also, have I told you how I love your profile pic? I feel so kindred with that girl in braids.
Thanks, Lydia. I try to be her as much as I can.
DeleteFor me it wasn't old -- brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI'm greasing my gills even as I type! LOL
ReplyDeletethe last few months, ive been feeling like a herring trying to outrun a shark... in a glass of water, and im running out of places to turn. but thats a personal matter i guess (shark repellent?) i wish i could hear the poem, but im at the library.
ReplyDeletebtw, love the wallace steven poem, he's one of my personal poet heroes. i havent re-read him in quite a while, and now i think thats what i'll be doing tonight (shark repellent?)
and sorry it's been so long since ive been here... life is messy at the moment.
know the feeling, wood--I didn't record this one, so you didn't miss hearing it. You're welcome whenever and however you turn up, bud. Life is almost always messy, and sometimes it takes more than what we've got at the given time to sort it out. Hope things improve--and maybe take some consolation from Joe Hesch's comment above--the sharks may be winning, but they're also trapped in the tank--when they run out of herring, they can only eat each other.
Deletebtw, love your latest--I'm gathering from your comment policy that you don't want a list of everything that made my hairs curl in pleasure/pain reflex, so I'll just say, please keep writing.
DeleteI have been in that situation with my ex and family. You are AWESOME that you can described exactly how it feels like in just 55 fantastic words! The good news is I live on the tell the story. Great job, HW. You hang in there. I used to be overwhelmed too but as I get older ,maybe a bit wiser, nowadays I just take it easy. I just say enough and know when is enough. Life is too short to try to please everyone. We are only humans.
ReplyDeleteMine is here
Have you a TRULY BLESSED SUNDAY and a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!!!
hugs
shakira
Ingenious, glass reefs! Poor little buggers didn't stand a chance. And to think, some people enjoy watching ...
ReplyDelete