Five fish

1
This one seeme d to be happy on gravel.
Sipping flies down to
her very own stones.

One day she fell with the current
all the way to the wide sea.

And then she’s hunting shrimps and prawns,
all that pink going deep inside.
The muscle tight but slim as a rocket,
the shine broken with beads of black.

Till she and her mates have turned around
thirsty for remembered water
that’s just around the
next narrowing

so she swims until
she bruises her belly.

2
This one plays the wate r like wine.
The high fin is long and a sail
so it swims in a spiral.
As a cork is unturned
from the cloudy neck
of a thick bottle.

The silver of salt
in fresh water.

The one that livens up when
the slowing chill is on the river.

3
This dart is certain and sharp
but has fifteen spines
on its back.

You can see through shape
to see the hairy bones
bristle inside.

4
This one hovers
striped by reeds
– a shark in a lake.

He’s made of marble
and gorgonzola.
Heavy as butter.

Pivots like a stuntbike
and rhymes with one too.

5
This back can show a kite
filling, pulling
round quiet water.

A tiger in olive and green
accelerating to
a flash of lipstick red.

1 Salmon
2 Grayling
3 15-spined stickleback
4 Pike
5 Perch