Fighting Fish
and I forget
how long
but it’s been years
since we
bought him
on a whim
at that pet store
down the street
found him sitting
on a shelf
with a ton of other
fish
sitting in the same
boat
his speck eyes
sizing us up
and we agreed
he’s the one
and she held him
careful
in her backseat booster
all the way home
but the best part
was that moment
when
we lifted the plastic lid
off that container
and poured him out
into a big bowl
of water
and watched him
swim
and he did
a backstroke
and a butterfly
and scuba-dived
and looked at us
through his glass goggles
and winked
with those speck eyes
TL