“Ichthyography” for April 9, 2019

Ichthyography
 
What would it be like, the writing
of fish? Something shining, I think,
a muscular, flowing
calligraphy,
a Piscean script—
accents of whirlpool
and fin flip.
 
Shimmering,
colorful circumlocutions
used, like kennings, over and over, 
and with lots of sudden twists
and turns in the plot, breaks
long as winter, slower to resolve
than river fog rising.
 
What would it be like
to write not with ink
or light but with water?
Describing each fresh syllable
with my whole body, then
erasing it all as I go,
every gesture a metaphor?

Leslie Schultz