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?
gareth roi poet boi 