Dolphin

for Kevin Davis

We could see you were a dolphin
in your dolphin skin,
but we did not understand
what made you laugh,
and what dolphins do.
We found boxes to put you in,
secondhand and raggedy,
boxes you refused to get in.
You were a dolphin!
Dolphins don’t belong
in boxes.
We were duplicitous cephalopods,
our lives murky black clouds of ink.
But you were a dolphin,
and we couldn’t change
ourselves into anything.
You are still swimming,
singing your dolphin songs
and you are still laughing,
while our withered bodies
lose their ink.
So often, we wish
we were dolphins too.

Written 2 February 2020

Brian Fuchs, “Dolphin” from Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Scissortail Press, 2020)Continue Reading