A lone harlequin rasbora swims under
the red tinted Indian ocean, its
metallic orange body shimmering
with the sun’s rays. It flits through
the warm waters, watching angelfish
and humphead wrasse and thinking
about the members of its family,
turning at the same time, rising
up as one, never doing anything
of their own volition. How dull to
shuffle left and right, bumping into
one another, the proximity so tight.
To see the same sights day after day
after day after day because that is
all there is when you move in the
same circles. He ventures to other
spots, learns from manta rays, tastes
delicacies from the cool regions
and dreams in rhyme.
Well, at first, I was thinking – doesn’t that just sound like any of our lives? Day in, day out, bumping around with other beings in our routine… I love the turn at the end, perhaps a poet in the making, breaking away from the doldrums. There’s stability in stasis, but there is so much more – delicacies to taste – if you can just break away. Learned about fish names from reading this – so that was a bonus. Fun!
Wow! Thank you, Denise!! This poem would never had existed had it not been for the prompt for this hour — I had to look up ‘fish that swim in schools’ so I could make my somewhat personified rasbora (I picked this one because of the link to books) want to break away from the pack and do things his way, but I also wanted it stand as a metaphor for our daily grind, the ‘herd mentality’ and to show, as you say, that there are other ‘delicacies to taste’! Thanks again!!
Another simply stunning piece of poetry. I could read your work all Cristy.
DSC
https://thepoetrymarathon.com/author/dscoremans
#FoDiByLi
Much gratitude, DCS!!
Dreaming in rhyme is why we take melatonin… 😉
This was lovely! I liked the breaking-away feel of it…
Thanks, Sandy – this prompt was fun and I was surprised at what it brought out – must be the melatonin! LOL!