Of or concerning fish | Christina Brannon

Of or concerning fish | Christina Brannon

When the vet removed the rainbow rock from the goldfish’s trachea
I knew I had to redecorate.
If you think buying a gun is easy
Try a gallon of paint and bristle brush -
Really you don’t even need ID.
It’s like they don’t know I’m going to gut renovate the order of things.
I stand on the shoulders of giants, as I rewrite history, the stuff of victors,
to say truth is yesterday,
Because I am a winner and not a loser -
And things I don’t accept
Happened to someone with a white bedroom door and
Mine is now not.
The natural world needs its dues,
But there’s enough ice in my freezer to rehab the glaciers,
Enough guile in my wrist to rip
The seal from the shark,
Put it in my sick new room.
All of my ego’s understudies
Exist only in my mind’s panopticon,
Undergoing cruel and unusual punishment for not seeing anything coming.
I am a victor and
they are victims of circumstance.
When the rat-tailed tour guide tells me there are no exits in Versailles before the natural end,
I knew it was time to leave her bedroom,
Wriggle past the frills, abandon the cortege,
And move quickly to a more aerated space.
No color on the walls, no gold lattice,
Can change your life if
The food chain needs your neck.
Past the gift shop,
A door and a garden,
Period music through a modern speaker.
Swallowing air,
Victorious -
The sky as blue as spring water.

Christina Brannon (she/her) is a nonprofit professional from New York City. Christina received her Master’s from The New School in Nonprofit Management. She moonlights as a Little Free Librarian and senior dog enthusiast. Long nights of writing are made sweeter with her blind rescue dog and manager, Petey, on her lap.

Honorable Mentions of the Month
These are poems that stood out among the beautiful submissions we received in April 2026:
• “In Flight” by Shelly Smithson

• “Swallow the Sun” by Bella Melardi

~ Selected by Sharisa Aidukaitis

Editor’s Note

Immediately I came across the opening line, I knew it would be a good read, although it does not change the fact that making this selection among other compelling poems was a difficult task. Brandon is either reshaping the world or just pretending to. But in either way, the persona, carried away by the idea of “winning” at reality by forcefully redecorating it, uses art as a means of escape from vulnerability.

~ Daniel Aôndona