A Reading of Dead Fish

Only read if you find necessary. You're far better off to read "Dead Fish" first, and then this if you feel like it

wet brown glossy sheen
floating pound
lit from a partly cloudy day
like seasoning salt
running across floating silver dead flesh
blue coats fishing from the dock
struggle to reel him in
because he is heavy with water
heavier than life

blue coats with funeral voices
ask lost eyes,
"Is this your nephew?"
The man wants to say no
he doesn't recognize dead fish

big brother loved fishing
until he saw his first dead fish
he may not go fishing again


The poem ^

The reading of the poem v

This was the original third stanza I was going to use, but I thought it might be too obvious:

my Big Brother loved to take me fishing
until he saw his nephew on that dock
his nephew was my age
he could never bare to hear my voice after that
maybe he won't have children
he loved fishing
he might not go fishing ever again



When I was a younger guy I was a Little Brother and I had a Big Brother.  For those that don't know, boys with single support mums -- boys without fathers in their life are able through the organization Big Brothers to have a kind of adopted father who will spend time with you and do "guy stuff," hang out and what not.  (Big Sisters is the same thing for girls without mums.)  Of course it cannot replace having a real father in your life, but it is a blessing to have a Big Brother.

This is a non-fictional work since my second Big Brother was asked to identify his drowned nephew (I believe his sister's son) on the dock of the lake nearby his family's home -- I think he was helping in the search too.  His nephew was my age .

I'm not sure of my Big Brother's exact mental condition afterwards other than to say this episode was very traumatic for him.  He couldn't even bring himself to see me or talk to me again after this.  I ended up, after several calls reaching his wife, who told me of what happened and why my Big Bro. had not returned my calls.  She told me that he couldn't see me any more, because even hearing my voice was too difficult for him.  I never saw him again.

One of our favourite things to do together was fishing.  I mean that's classic guy stuff, and he was big into fishing, had a nice speedy little boat and everything.  (Thus there is a theme of fish and fishing throughout the poem.)

His nephew died either fishing or swimming (I forget which, but I think it was fishing).  I guess I didn't realize how close he was to this nephew too, until this tragedy.


Wet fir, or hair, has a glossy sheen when it is wet.  The first line illustrates the dead boy's brown hair in the water as mine, since I have dark brown hair and when my hair is wet, and the light hits it, it appears silvery.  I was told that this boy who died looked like me, or would at least remind my Big Brother of his nephew.  Thus I have given his nephew my hair.  Dead bodies in the water tend to 'dead man float' (face down) so his hair would have the full silvery brown wet hair effect at work.

You'll find this piece working off several literary devices surrounding a fish theme: 'floating franc' refers to a special series of French 5 franc coins which are silver and have a fish on them.  'dead flesh' is a play on 'dead fish' and the lines surround this image metamorphically infuse the image of a dead boy floating in the water with a dead fish floating in the water.

Blue coats are the police/medical search and rescue persons

When you drown, your lungs fill up with water.  Also, a dead person seems a lot heavier than a living one, which is ironic for the fishing image portrayed, since it's a struggle to reel in an alive fish that fights the fish hook, so you'd think a dead fish would be easier to reel in.  Not necessarily.

'lost eyes' -- I wanted to convey those blank shocked eyes that you see in people when they face a horror like this.  The idea that they just become totally blank, like their world is shattered and lost -- the lost look. . .

'his first dead fish' -- obviously a metaphor, since as a fisher he would bring his own fish home all, kill them and prepare them for a meal.  The dead fish is the boy.  This is his first encounter with a dead boy.

The last mine is possibly ambiguous, since there are several meanings in it:
'he may not go fishing again'

First of all, he never took me fishing again, so symbolically I never saw him again after this and we never went fishing again.

There's also a bit of a query here: 'I wonder if he'll ever go fishing again?'

As well, he was childless himself and this incident may have permanently led to his and his wife's decision to never have children.  (Though I'm not sure if they ever wanted to or even could.)