Fish Tank by Marvyne Jenoff

November 18, 2022
Poem name: Fish Tank Poet name: Marvyne Jenoff Poem: Suppose, as I fell, my head had hit the fish tank: broken-off glass corner deep in the side of my skull familiar, like migraine soothed by the slightly-warm fish-temperature water rivering onto the pale carpet over the shards of glass and over me, the water spilling carnivals of fish to tumble over my thick blood and flex themselves for freedom. The spotted, striped, spectacularly-finned —O, let me see their colours while I can— fish off to find their ocean, my ocean finding me. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Marvyne Jenoff Previously published in Climbing the Rain (Silver Bow Publishing, 2022). Marvyne Jenoff was born in Winnipeg and began publishing poems as a student at the University of Manitoba in the 1960s. A long-time resident of Toronto, she has published five books of poetry and one of short experimental fiction with Canadian literary presses. Her work appears in Canadian and international anthologies and journals. In recent years Marvyne has had a parallel career in the visual arts, creating and exhibiting works in watermedia and collage. One of these pieces, called “Hush, the Sibilant Rain,” is the cover image of her new poetry collection, Climbing the Rain (Silver Bow Publishing, New Westminster BC, March 2022). She is a member of the League of Canadian Poets and the Writers’ Union of Canada. The Marvyne Jenoff fonds are housed at the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University Library. www.marvynejenoff.org.