Matt Quinn

Carp

The sick man thinks
in Carp –

a ponderous currency
in a currentless pond,

a languorous language
that bubbles

sluggishly up
from anaerobic sludge

to algae-soup surface.
Puddle-born carp yearn

to be river thoughts, spawned
in clear mountain streams,

racing surface ripples
in bracing,

oxygen-rich waters.
The sick man dreams

in Salmon.