the fish king

they move best as fishes

they are the most flexible animal

they have a right to act like an animal

years ago as children they were animals

they know how it works

they want it back

when they ate meat

they ate a member of their family

an animal unlike any other

in the known universe

they ate themselves

devaluing themselves

devaluing their body to appetite

having fed a lot of predators

and how

   tiny phrases  of

   the human  genome

   moving through time

   controlling each character

   controlling their body and mind

   leaving little to change or choose

   is there a choice of the genome

   other than continuity

they remember the plains of africa

long afternoons
fast finger picking berries

no work

no anything

just family reflection travel

there were so few of them

no competititon

the leading species

all animals all the forest

keeping all trim

animals never gave a thought

to galactic entropy

neither should they

the plains beckoned

beyond a fence

they were behind

a pet