Ode to the Fish

BY ELLEN BASS

Nights when I can’t sleep
I listen to the sea lions
Barking from the rocks off the lighthouse
I look out the black window into the black night
And think about fish stirring the oceans
Muscular tuna
Their lunge and thrash turning the water
Whipping up a squall, storm of hunger
Hering cruising
River of silver in the sea
Wide as a lit city
And all the small breaths
Pulse of frilled jellyfish
Thrust of squid
Frenzy of krill
Transparent skin glowing green with the glass shells of diatoms
Billions swarming up the water column each night
Gliding down at dawn
They’re the greased motor that powers the world
Shipping heat to the arctic
Hauling cold to the tropics
Currents unspooling around the globe
My room is so still
The bureau, lifeless
And on it, intert, the paraphernalia of humans
Keys, coins, shells that once rocked in the tides
Opalescent abalone, pearl earrings
Only the clocks sea green numerals
Register the small changes
And shadows the moon casts
Fan of maple branches
Tick across the room
But beyond the cliffs a blue whale sounds and surfaces
Cosmic ladle scooping the icy depths
And arteries so wide I could swim through
Into its thousand pound heart