It’s a long time since I’ve been
a goldfish. Gather the usual
provisions: a blanket, a branch,
a match. I’m at the beginning
of the feeling; I can still turn
this around. Twice a day I drink
my tablets. Once I had an important
memory, but the king of the land
took it for tax. We don't really like
our leaders, do we? Then in the summer
he died of money, and I forgot my
tongue. Forgive me. I have been
singing too many songs.
Laura S. Marshall (she/they) is a poet, educator, and former linguist who lives outside Albany, NY. Their work appears in South Dakota Review, Bennington Review, The Dodge, trampset, juked, Okay Donkey, Lunch Ticket, and elsewhere. She received an MFA in poetry from UMass Amherst, and has served as a special features editor for jubilat.