Inspired by Ursula McGivern's Koi Jar
Nishikigoi
They call me the swimming jewel
and they say my name means love
and though I have evolved from common carp
there is nothing ordinary about me
for my skin is amber,azure,crimson,cyan,
syllables to savour on the tongue
and my gold and platinum scales shimmer even in deepest waters
where I trawl the pond‘s depth for sustenance.
On the surface I shimmy between water lilies
my barbed lip a warning to guppies and minnows,
danios and mollies that darken my den.
For I am an opportunist and will take advantage.
Overhead the heron and kingfisher circle my shadow
covet my balletic configurations, my patternings, my scalations.
while landward raccoon and weasel vie over me.
They say I am oily or muddy to the palate.
They say I bring luck, prosperity and good fortune.
They say I am perseverance in the face of adversity.
They say I can morph into dragon.
But whatever they say know
that I can outlive you by a hundred years or so
https://www.millcovegallery.com/poets-meet-painters-2023
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