THE LITTLE CABOOSE OF THE EMILY DICKINSON EXPRESS
by Joyce Carol Oates
Page 7
To conclude, two very short poems. One is about a living fish--an otherness supremely other; the second is about a dead fish, about to be devoured--thus beyond creaturely pain. In the first, the metaphor resolutely excludes us. In the second, the metaphor is us.
FISHWhen you stand on the bank awash
in sun the fish dart slant-
wise through your upraised hand,
all gold, glinting, nerve-ends
quicker than flesh so
be humble. Don't even try
to change your life.
HOW DELICATELY...How delicately the fish's
backbone is being
lifted out if its
cooked flesh--
the sinewy spine, near-translucent bones
gently detached from
the pink flesh--
how delicately, with
what love, there can be no hurt.
