Poems of the Week

Holy Mackerel!

by Catherine Chandler

“U.K. and France Call in the Navy, Sort of, in Channel Islands Fishing Dispute”
The New York Times

The old rivals are at it once more.
As the gunboats set sail from each shore,
underwater, the hake,
hoping it’s a mistake,
are predicting another Cod War.

The halibut, haddock, and skate
are urging their fish heads of state―
the pollock and tope―
to call in the Pope,
but the flounder have left it to fate.

The bass and the bream and the brill
slip away to the coast of Brazil,
while a stingray and shark
think it’s all such a lark,
as the latter homes in for a kill.

The result will be sweet, à la Dory
(not Trafalgar-like, bloody and gory),
should the humans above
act in good faith and love.
And that is the sole of this story.