Tuesday Poem - The Tank by Vivienne Plumb

The Tank

I hum and write, I hum under

my breath and keep writing.

A good bit about the goldfish

in the tank at Bats. The tank

sits on one of the Bats booth

tables. There are three fish.

Two look like ordinary gold

fish, but the third has really

black rings on its eyes, like

it’s been bashed by the others.

And Victor remarks: Heidi says

if you tap the tank like this,

you could give them a heart

attack. And he taps the tank.

And I guess that’s what it is

we can feel sometimes,

it’s Victor’s big fat finger

tapping the tank.

*References to ‘Bats’ – Bats Theatre, Wellington, N.Z.

I can hardly find a thing to say about this poem because the first time I read it it went straight into me and on subsequent readings it still has that same swift, sharp effect. It works and it's straight. An extra bonus for me is that I know Bats. When it was Unity Theatre that was where me and my husband-to-be played in a production of Richard III.

Vivienne Plumb was born in Australia and now lives in Auckland. I joke to her about how I was born in Wellington and now live in Australia. I tell her we keep the balance by never living in the same country. But that doesn't always work out. Sometimes we live in the same country. Her newest book is called Crumple and is put out by Helen Rickerby's Seraph Press.

http://www.seraphpress.co.nz/crumple.html