The Man Who Invented the Fish Bowl
Did the man who invented the fish bowl
extend the patent to cover illustrations
in pulp sci-fi mags, a square-jawed
Buck McMacho, Hero of Mars type
striding across rock-edged vistas
of red dust, alien femmes fatale
(green of skin but still Miss Arizona
material) swooning in his wake
and did he wonder, the man who invented
the fish bowl, whether these illustrators
of the future before the future was fact
omitted oxygen tanks and tubes
and mouthpieces the better to accentuate
Buck McMacho’s rippling muscles
and the rigidity of his manly jawline
or did it puzzle him, the man who invented
the fish bowl, that Buck McMacho
would wear a sphere of blown glass
and not traverse the galaxy
with it three-quarters full of water,
two unimpressed goldfish for company?
Neil Fulwood lives and works in Nottingham. His hobbies include visiting inns and taverns of architectural interest. Some people confuse this with pub-crawling. Neil’s first collection, No Avoiding It, is published by Shoestring Press.
atriumpoetry.com 