Saturday, August 31, 2013

One Afternoon in the New York Fish Market

"The fish is talking" screamed Nivelo,
Not knowing now what to do with the knife.
Rosen says today"Ah, enough already about the fish",
But then, right then, he dropped the phone and ran to see
And saw the carp, already lifted out of the ice-box
And seconds away from the rubber-hammered end of all times,
Speaking clearly, in Hebrew:
"Tzaruch shemirah. Hasof bah."
Get it together, kids, this is it.
Pray. Repair and pray, the end is here.

Zalmen didn't agree that it had happened at all,
But Nivelo had slid down the wall onto the slimy floor
From the horrible might of a carp speaking so plainly.
And, admittedly, Nivelo did not speak Hebrew at all
By all reports, but Rosen did, and anyway a talking fish is a talking fish,
And the spirit of God is not something small.

Cory Kilgannon of the New York Times reported in March 2003 that
"The fish flopped off the counter and back into the carp box
And was butchered by Nivelo and sold."

So, it's not exactly news. Just a sly indication.
And if there's news, it's that Nivelo and Rosen and Zalmen
And God
Are confused.



Photo © The National Center for Jewish Film