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Fish Food

A poem about death and decay.

By Mae FlowersPublished 10 months ago β€’ 1 min read
Top Story - August 2023
23
Fish Food
Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

As I stare over the cliffs into the water below,

I ponder every moment I've ever lived.

I wonder what it would feel like for my body to hit the water,

To sink to the bottom,

To welcome the salt and seaweed into my lungs,

To disintegrate into the ocean floor,

Becoming fish food.

I want to be one with the stars,

But not quite yet.

These thoughts that pervade me are merely intrusive,

And I will not act,

But there are no promises that I will not wonder.

I think asking these questions is a good thing.

Curiosity is what drives imagination,

Even if that curiosity is driven by the thought of my own decay.

I live in preparation for the grand finale.

While I'm afraid of what comes next,

I welcome it with open arms.

How lucky we are to experience life,

Death is just a part of it.

surreal poetryslam poetryperformance poetryCONTENT WARNING
23

About the Creator

Mae Flowers

Weaver of words into poetry and short fiction. Fan of the Oxford comma.

Reader insights

Nice work

Very well written. Keep up the good work!

Top insights

  1. Easy to read and follow

    Well-structured & engaging content

  2. Heartfelt and relatable

    The story invoked strong personal emotions

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Comments (10)

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  • Rachel Deeming4 months ago

    "Curiosity is what drives imagination/Even if that curiosity is driven by the thought of my own decay." The juxtaposition of curiosity and its associations with discovery put next to death, the end is just so thought-provoking.

  • ANFAS10 months ago

    nice

  • CleverWordz10 months ago

    An amazing poem with thoughts on life behind the veil so to speak. I often take this as even in outer space with other life beings displaced other than our own species created. The mind has many churns that will turn the wheel of curiosity.

  • Paul Stewart10 months ago

    Woah...okay. this is beautiful. With writing like that, you are a welcome and important addition to the Vocal community here. Congratulations on your very deserving Top Story. This is actually very relatable! Well done, Mae!

  • Babs Iverson10 months ago

    Lovely!!! Congratulations on Top too!!!β€οΈβ€οΈπŸ’•

  • Great piece β€οΈπŸ’―πŸ‘ŒπŸ“Congratulations on your Top StoryπŸŽ‰

  • Maggie Elizabeth 10 months ago

    "Curiosity is what drives imagination." I love love LOVE that line. Welcome to Vocal!

  • Naomi Gold10 months ago

    First of all welcome to Vocal, and to my subscription list. This was damn good. I think life is a lucid dream, and the people who aren’t occasionally thinking of what it might be like to wake up (death) are the people with no chance of influencing the dream. The dream is just happening to them, and when it ends, they’ll likely be full of regrets. Secondly, congrats on your Top Story! πŸ₯‚

  • Suze Kay10 months ago

    "But there are no promises I that will not wonder" is such a beautiful line! Thanks for sharing, Mae.

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