Eulogy for a Goldfish

by Zoë Vorisek

Image credit: Adi Ulici on Unsplash

I dig up a shameful thought in the backyard           

say the right to grief is a disservice to the living

churning a dead poem I carve into a withering tree

we stand around a bowl—octagon yellow

say the right to grief is a disservice to the living

Satan says, what’s the point? I say, eat the question

we stand around a bowl—octagon yellow

clean the fishbowl spit out the I & split the point

Satan says, what’s the point? I say, eat the question

Satan says, do you want to see? I see— words

clean the fishbowl spit out the I & split the point

the what wraps around my tongue hides in the line

Satan says, do you want to see? I see—words

say the right to grief is a disservice to the living

the what wraps around my tongue hides in the line

please Satan says, words are enough! I say, even the wrong ones?

***

Zoë Vorisek

Zoë Vorisek is a graduate of Harvard College and an MFA candidate in poetry at Brooklyn College. She received the 2024 Himan Brown Poetry Award and the Hogan Greta Buchwald Fellowship. Her work has appeared in Oddball Magazine and Eunoia Review.