In a Room Full of Fish,
Wednesday Night on the Westside

Poems by Diane Willadson

Held by the heels, weighing out full as a squid-fed marlin,
wiggling to a tune, while Marcie loads the pipe.

Holding out for a lung-full, hit the hook lazy, took a night
in July, just once and Lucy was blowing bubbles, caught

in a grinning goldfish on the bathroom wallpaper while Sean
held her head above the toilet and dolphins jumped

from the shower curtain. Wasn't long till the tide turned
and the salmon quit fighting. The buck above the couch

escaped the frame, ate crumbs off the coffee table
and joined the others, flopping in moss on the forest floor.