Biography of Blue

The boy said he grew

Gills to live underwater when the river swelled,

And flooded his home. The man he became

Vacuumed all the air bubbles, clawing for escape

In the attic littered with toys he could no longer hold because

His pruned fingers lost their grip.  

 

The boy said music doesn’t sound right,

The molecules are much too close

And he couldn’t scream when he was angry. So the man’s

Hatred clustered in his marrow and he

Developed a backache, lay in bed, and took something

To conserve his energy for when he crawled ashore.  

 

But the viscous world slowed him,

He sleepwalked all day, eyes half shut,

And didn’t dream at night. Sinking deeper

With his airtight medicine capsule

On his bed stand; he forgot his plan. While the boy,

Grew restless swimming through vacant rooms

Desperate to breathe

Life into the man’s lungs.  

 

In a final appeal the boy clawed at the man,

To pull him from his cavern, but he was too weak

The man seized the boy’s wriggling body

Stifling his struggle,

Swallowing his weight in his grasp.

They wrestled as they moved through the house

Bouncing off buoyant furniture

Once glued to the floor,

As they crashed through the roof

They became one, rising to the surface.  

 

The dry April air shrivelled the man’s

Lungs, his skin shrouded his head like wet paper.

He spoke softly, remembering little of himself, or the shadows

He once knew in school.

His gills flared briefly as he whispered

That he’d be dry soon,

Even as he waited for dark to come

So he could return to the water.

And he never spoke again.  

 

They found him near the river

Three days later, his lungs filled with water.

Just a boy lying

Face down among withered spring flowers and melting snow.  

 

 

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