Fish Pedicure Poem by Sheena Blackhall

I dip my toes in the warm tank of water
Tiny doctor fish wriggle alive
Trembling on swaying fins
Towards my rough extremities
Ichthyotherapy, care by the Garra rufa,
Bred in the hot springs of central Turkey

Now, in Okinawa, Japan, in Vietnam,
In Singapore, Hong Kong, the British isles
These tiny footservents soften the world's tread
Soothing and pampering soles

Miniscule mouths nibble on flakes of skin
My feet immersed in water look
Disembodied, white, amorphous

How many patients will they treat today?
They trim flesh back to health
Nature's chiropodists, small, finny carers

It is soothing this lapping sensation of water
These gentle, tickling creatures lull me lazy

I am a fee-paying buyer of Eastern podiatry
I sit on a seat in the walkway of a mall
Letting the fish doctors carry out their work.

I watch the busy shoppers look askance
They saunter, trudge or flounder with their loads
Some glance with interest, others, with grimace