Pompano

My father caught a pompano with a sand shrimp when I was a youth of about twelve vacationing in Florida. Scintilla and I caught the sand shrimp with a homemade seive. Today there were two freshly caught pompano for sale at the fish market. The russian exchange student working behind the counter looked at me like I was from Mars when I asked her if they would clean them for me.
In 1986 I wrote this poem:

"Sea Trout"

Beautiful fish
all frozen and dead
and
wrapped in my freezer,
see how the scales
are scraped from your skin.
A sharp knife lies waiting
to chop off your head,
then dropped in the sink
and tossed in the woods,
for a possum to find
when it smells the stink.
Your flesh I will eat
all broiled in lemon,
the delicate bones I must pick
carefully.
Oh noble fish, swim strong in the ocean,
I cry for you, for you give me life

REM