Lamprey & Candle-Fish
A mouth. Then a
tongue with a single tooth. Like Dracula
permanently
sucking on the body of some gigantic victim.
It is a
tenacious thing that is clinging on for (genuine) dear-
life. Unfortunately,
it is not quite capable of that illumination
that the name
suggests. We have to leave that to the Candle-
fish; even then
it will take some determined orchestration.
Every
politician should have a Lamprey. Give it to them
so that they
will have an understanding of what it is like
to be there
constantly, often unnoticed. And in the darkness
of retirement,
give them a Candle-Fish, let them dry it out &
stand it
upright, try & coax a flame without a skerrick of flint
or even a gas
cigarette lighter. The fish, gives its all in this
odd immolation.
The Lamprey continues, attached to some
great beast,
travels on, through a life of incessant feeding.
From Nine Poems on Aquatic Life
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