Love Poetry for Dummies: "Other Fish"

It's been quite some time since I last published any of my poetry here on the Epistle, and I'm sure you've all been dying to read more (yes, both of you). So, here's my latest offering, composed semi-recently on a slow day at work.

When it comes to "Love Poetry for Dummies," I make no excuses except to remind you that it's not at all meant to be Emily Dickinson or Shakespeare.

"Other Fish"

There’s other fish in the sea,
My brain was quick to remind me,
When she told me she wanted only my friendship.
But no one else has those gills,
Those fins, or those scales;
I’m afraid that’s one ship that will sink.

I’ve lost all my patience;
Maybe you did me a favor.
And I’m out of flies and worms;
I’ve pulled up anchor,
And I’m sailing away;
And I’m also out of fishing terms.

I’ll admit that I got hooked on you.
Like a barnacle, I held on for dear life.
Now the taste in my mouth
Is like cod liver oil;
And that’s just plain gross.

Sushi: A Four-Letter Word?

I had the oddest experience today: On a whim, I tried eating sushi once again, for probably the tenth time, and I actually liked it.

Those first nine attempts, I didn't enjoy sushi too much. I wanted to, because I was surrounded by friends who were eating sushi on purpose and who raved about it like it was the greatest thing since Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, but I honestly didn't like it. In fact, I rather hated it.

In general, I'm not much of a fan of fish. It probably has to do with the fact that I ate a lot of fish and seafood while on my mission in Peru, and once those two years were over, I felt like I'd ingested enough seafood to last me for the next 50 or 60 years. Part of it, I feel, was also a "when in Rome" thing; you do what you have to survive sometimes.


At any rate, for today's lunch, I did not set out intending to go anywhere in the neighborhood of any sushi. I was, in fact, dining at the local Chinese buffet - one of my guilty pleasures - and they happened to be serving sushi rolls, much like the ones in the above photo. I would even go so far as to write that the rolls I tried were delicious.

Well, I survived to tell the tale. And I might just try sushi once again, if given the opportunity. Perhaps the tenth time is the charm.