- Sophia L
watching a video of an octopus slapping a fish
watching a video of an octopus slapping a fish

I was awkwardly reminded of
how it feels
when you wake up in the morning
with good intend in mind
you peel the blanket off your skin
and you lift yourself up
you get ready to
walk down the street
whistling
you think to yourself that today
today
Is gonna be YOUR day
thinking that
today
you are going to do all those things you thought you should have done yesterday
today
and the day before
and you find yourself thinking
and walking
thinking
today
when you reach your location of walk
you will grip the day by its horns
and fight it like a real human
thinking
you walk by the market
and you see all those
dead fish
lined up to stare at you
like a prisoners last walk
down death row
your thoughts start shaking and flapping their flippery fins
a stream so smooth
the disruption
unexpected
the cloud of fish
in a deuce of stir
a turmoil of open thoughts with no ends
fins failing to find their forefish
to follow the stream of-
this is the moment
the feelers have been waiting for
an utter state of chaos
and slowly they extend their feelers
feeling around the thoughts
kettling some of the smaller fish
between the grip of their slurpy tentacles
guiding them into the void
of feelers
and feelings
one fish swims all alone
one of the good thoughts
one of the ones that was fighting for a productive day ahead
when all of the sudden
a feeler out of nowhere
suckers slapping its side
the poor fish
had woken up this morning
with good intend in mind
to peel the blanket of their skin
to lift themselves up
and float through the streets
of underwater Disneyland-
as she walks by the marketplace
she hears the dead fish scream for help
the octopus in hear heart
drowns all the fish
in a swampy pool of last night’s left over feelings.
“One portion of fried fish with mayonnaise, please.”
She hears her own voice say
and a deep and heavy chuckle resounds from the gorge of her gut.