Sunday, January 13, 2013

Scott Abels

ARS POETICA: SETTING UP AN AQUARIUM


You go from a disclosure
to an announcement in 4 gallons.

Friends, your cigarettes
look like tiny fish food morsels

and are killing our fish.
You of course want proof.

There is a goldfish society
sunlight will find.  A bright

red flag.  Science in the daylight
will not reach a definite conclusion.

You are horrible
thunder over the water.

When you’re setting up
an aquarium, your teeth snap.

__________________

A half an inch of good,
flat skipping rocks.

Your speech patterns
will become simpler over time.

If the fish lack heads,
1 can diced chilies.

A color scheme
based on nature.

Across the street
there is an aquarium

under construction.
I am writing postcards

with text and 2 old men
fishing with dynamite.


Scott Abels currently lives and teaches in Honolulu, where he edits the online poetry journal Country Music.  He is the author of Rambo Goes to Idaho (BlazeVOX, 2011) and Nebraska Fantastic (Beard of Bees, 2012).