Ray Ball
If you feel you must put me in the earth,
Plant a seed in an eye socket
So that it grows from my bonecage.
I confess I poisoned a goldfish once.
Plant seeds in my eyes and ears.
I hope a tree grows and casts latticed shadows.
I confess I poisoned a goldfish when I was thirteen.
I used acid from the shelf in my father’s lab.
I hope a willow grows and casts fleeting shadows
Nurtured by decaying cells.
I took the acid bottle from the lab’s shelf.
With a pipette, I stole blotches of light from a fish’s eye.
Nurtured by decay, cells burst
From a coffin without a bell.
I stole with a dropper water-whorls of time from a fish.
A certain boy was there, but I shall not mention him.
Box me into a coffin without a bell
If you feel you must put me in the earth.
I stole water-whorls of time from a fish
So that they would spill from my bonecage.