Once upon a time,
a girl and her boy
went to the Japanese Gardens
to feed the koi.
While going up
to pay the fee,
my friend drove up.
His name: Roni.
“Wait,” he said.
“Don’t pay that price.
I’ve got this card.
It is real nice.”
“We’ll use this card
of the Botanical Society.”
Since we had blank looks…
“We get in for free.”
I took all the change
from my pants,
bought fish pellets,
admired the plants.
We walked up to
a babbling brook
with stones to step on
for a better look.
We fed some fish
that were swimming by.
Then I shouted
with an excited cry,
“I’m going to catch
one of our swimming friends
to prove I’m the best,
the best of men.”
I lured the fish
with pellets brown.
I prayed I would not fall in
and would not drown.
I placed my hand
inside the dirty pool.
The monster fish
proved me a fool.
Roni said,
“You must be fast
if you are to catch
the fish at last.”
Once again, the water
I did reach,
withdrew my hand
and heard a screech.
The senior citizen
to my right
saw a fish in my hand
and had a fright.
I looked to my palm,
and there, behold,
a brilliant koi
of vermilion gold.
I looked into
my proud fish’s face.
I knew the air
was not his place.
I saw gills pumping.
His lungs, they burned.
With a flick of my wrist,
to the water he returned.
I saw him swim
away unharmed,
the senior citizen
no longer alarmed.
Went back to her duty
of feeding koi,
forgetting the struggle
of fish and boy.
I had proven that
I was the master.
The fish had swum,
yet my hand was faster.