-then the fish-

to set myself up
in playing this game

I’ll read them blindly.

approaching those recognized

I’ll move to the unknown.

the sites utilized are professional

and regularly visited.

I know the gender of those
who reside on the shelves.

there are those

of whom it can be said,

should seem obvious
to be one
or the other. —

the wind is placed thusly.

the room is heavier here.
here the sunlight is hotter, somehow,

at the hand of woman.
or is it at the hand of man?

immediately the hooked

great fish is recognized.

it is examined
and documented through eyes
of uncommon sensibility,
beauty and strength.

I know this one.
but I don’t move-on to another.

and so ends the game.

                    after one by Elizabeth Bishop