This, Too, Is What We're Up Against...

Poem by Donald Hall, from White Apples and the Taste of Stone.

© Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. Reprinted with permission.

"We Bring Democracy To The Fish"

It is unacceptable that fish prey on each other.

For their comfort and safety, we will liberate them

into fishfarms with secure, durable boundaries

that exclude predators. Our care will provide

for their liberty, health, happiness, and nutrition.

Of course all creatures need to feel useful.

At maturity the fish will discover their purposes.

AS USUAL, the artists in both cases got it COMPLETELY BACKWARDS. Typical landscum monkeycentrism.

I'm not at all sure what the painter was trying to get across, unless it was just to CREEP ME OUT. Tell you what, sometimes I envy my counterpart Zone Leader who works with East Asia. Other times, I JUST DON'T KNOW.

Donald Hall is trying to freak me out too, with this "poem" that lacks any sort of metaphorical quality. It reads like a business memo, which may be the point. It certainly shows zero appreciation for the poetry in anything, let alone the exquisite poetry of OUR MIGHTY CLAN. Again, this may be Hall's point. But he CERTAINLY misses out when he fails to capitalize on the opportunity to write about WHAT THE FISH MIGHT BE TALKING ABOUT IN THERE.

FOOLS. YOU'LL FIND OUT! AND THEN YOU'LL BE SORRY!