Writing In Thin Slices... Poem by RIC BASTASA

it is like a big tuna that lands in the shores of your mind,
you view it and it is too big for your keeping
you take a sharp knife then have a thin incision
you open the think slimy skin and slice but a very small and thin portion
of its raw flesh
less the blood

this is sushi poetry
your wasabe is the clear sea
your chopstick your skinny fingers
your long tongue savors the rawness
of this delicacy

in real life we do not take much of the fish body
only thin slices
and then we make conclusions
without causing much ruin
of what is big and unaccounted for


you set the big fish free
into the deep ocean

it has its own destiny
you have taken the sample of what it tastes

of what it is all about &
that is surely enough

then you go on with a stick in your hand
you scurry the sands
for those tiny diamonds
under the midday sun.