There’s lots of research concerning the devastation caused by BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon 3 month long oil leak around the Gulf of Mexico. This poem, explores one of the least reported/appreciated consequences. One which didn’t make the news cycle because the effects weren’t felt for three, four, five years — but the experts, the fishermen of the gulf knew what was happening. [3 longish verses aren’t being published.]

*****

missing fish

missing fish don’t make 
the news ; there’s no dramatic footage

no bodies wash onto beaches
just thousands of bubbles of nothing

following BP’s deepwater disaster
fish embryos didn’t grow

…

missing fish don’t make 
the news … but they should

*****

Day 16 – TIL a lot of fish related fun facts. (Ironically, at this point last year I wrote my flamingo triptych which was one of the highlight poems of last season. Today I find myself with lots & lots of fish facts, so I decided to replicate the idea.)

fish triptych

i. 
something odd (& gross) is happening 
in the waters of Britain
— a third of all male fish are changing 
sex due to human sewage pollution

ii. 
Atlantic hagfish produce enough slime 
in a minute to fill a bucket — no, no
i don’t care about the size of the bucket
that’s all the information i need, cheers

iii.
fish “speak” using a variety 
of low-pitched sounds 

they grunt : moan : & boom ; hiss : 
& whistle ; croak : creak : shriek : & wail

they rattle bones : gnash teeth
noisemake by jiggling muscles : 

against : their swim bladder
— ahhh : kindred spirits : who knew?