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VPR's coverage of arts and culture in the region.

Young Writers Project: This Is Not About A Fish

Credit, Susan Reid, Young Writers Project
Olivia Mead, a sophomore at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, says of her metaphorical poem, This is Not About a Fish, “I've only owned one fish in my life, and this poem is not about him." ";

This is Not About a Fish

By Olivia Mead, Age 16, Williston

I knew I wouldn't have you for long;

you were a carnival fish...

Yet I bought you food and kept my eyes on you.

When I tapped on the glass, it scared you,

but I needed to know you were there.

Some days I would convince myself you'd live forever.

Other days I stared painfully at the cold glass,

watching your brightly colored scales pass

until I was left crying, pretty positive you were dying.

But the truth is

you were not the one to die first.

I was.

With every stabbing thought of you floating to the surface

a part of me died

and it fueled you in a way,

promising you'd stay.

But my best parts went first and soon I was not me

and you swam away

with the parts of me you had taken woven tightly in your fins

and I grabbed at you but you were slippery

and your slime stuck to me

and now all the other fish are harder to catch.

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