I liked him for his tailfin, which was long like a mermaid's &
flowed like a silver blue
ruffle in the water,
larger than you'd expect a little fish's tail to be—
generous, excessive, a bit astonishing, like a girl with too much hair!
Sometimes he would rise like a submarine, straight up, as if he
would nip my finger, get out of my water, his mouth would open
like a little scoop of blackness & let out one bubble, like a smoke
ring of my father's, a message from the underworld.