(love song, with two goldfish)
(He's a drifter, always
floating around her, has
nowhere else to go. He wishes
she would sing, not much, just the scales;
or take some notice,
give him the fish eye.)
(Bounded by round walls
she makes fish eyes
and kissy lips at him, darts
behind pebbles, swallows
his charms hook, line and sinker)
(He's bowled over. He would
take her to the ocean, they could
count the waves. There,
in the submarine silence, they would share
their deepest secrets. Dive for pearls
like stars.)
(But her love's since
gone belly-up. His heart sinks
like a fish. He drinks
like a stone. Drowns those sorrows,
stares emptily through glass.)
(the reason, she said
she wanted)
(and he could not give)
a life
beyond the
(bowl)
By Grace Chua
QLRS Vol. 2 No. 2 Jan 2003
I. B. Kid
Burrus, Period 5
December 11, 2012
Start- 10:00 AM
End- 12:00 PM (grammatical errors removed)
In the poem (love song, with two fish), written in 2003 by Grace Chua as part of the
collection QLRS Vol. 2 No. 2, the thoughts and actions of two fish contained within a round
fishbowl highlight many intricacies of love in the bowl. The male fish shows a deep love for the
female fish, which cannot be returned by the female at the end of the poem. An important idea
driving this poem is that the love between the two “fish” is metaphorical, and often creates
parallel meanings of love that are present between two human beings. At the beginning of the
poem, the male fish is described as “a drifter/floating around her, / [having] nowhere else to
go”. The term drifter may refer to the drifting motion of the fish but more likely refers to a
person who waits and moves without a specific purpose; the parallelism struck between the
metaphoric action of the fish and the human terminology implied already creates an initial
sense of comparison that may be used by the reader to reflect on the poem with a sense of
familiarity with the process that takes place. In Grace Chua’s poem (love song, with two fish), a
central metaphor is aided by pun, enjambment, specific use of punctuation, and imagery to
explain the thoughts and feelings that drive love; the reader can feel a sense of familiarity in the
emotions of love that are evoked, and come to empathize with the “fish” love in a reflective
and personal way.
The poem introduces a sense of flirtatious love and comedy initially, by creating a
metaphorical language that almost teases love; the reader is led to make personal associations
with the amiability between the fish. In the term “he’s a drifter, always/floating around her”
we can follow our idea of parallelism between the fish’ action and human emotion by noting
the enjambment following the word “always”. The dual meaning created by the enjambment is
that the character is consistently without specific purpose, remaining a “drifter”, and that he
constantly pursues, or “[floats] around” a female to whom he is attracted. We gain insight into
a character that is often noncommittal and unbound by any obligations, yet finds a sense of
interest in pursuing a love. As the next enjambment continues, when he “[has]/nowhere else to
go” the separation between the two lines creates a sense of resignation for the “fish” and
sparks empathy from within the reader as we acknowledge a kind of trapped state. This sense
of resignation then leads into a comedic sense of desire as the “fish” states that “he wishes/she
would sing, not much, just the scales”; this infatuation with the female’s voice, a characteristic
that would be seen in human love, also creates a pun as “the scales” may represent the outer
appearance of a fish. The infatuation is thus expressed by acknowledging the female character’s
beauty, and though it is comedic for the reader, it does spark a sense of understanding and
familiarity with the concept of the relationship and love expressed. After creating this image of
the male’s desire and emotions, and relating this with the human characteristics, the poem
then makes a lighthearted and very flirtatious interaction present between male and female,
shadowing the truths of human romantic relationships.
The imagery of the second stanza show a lovable sense of happy interaction between
two characters as the female responds to the male’s interest in the goldfish bowl; the reader
thus finds happiness in this sense of companionship described, but also acknowledges its
mostly temporary and passionate nature. When the female fish “makes fish eyes/and kissy lips”
at the male fish, the recognizable image of a goldfish pursing its lips closed and open is
conjured, as well as its constant wide-eyed facial expression. Though this is simply how a
goldfish appears to look, we can use this idea to show that the love and flirtatious expressions
are driven by human emotions, not by the unchanging expression of a goldfish; the element of
imagery is comedic and aids with the use of pun to show the reader the very human motions of
flirtation and its romantic silliness, and create a nostalgic and understanding response. As the
fish “darts/behind pebbles”, the enjambment separating the fish’s movement and hiding place
aid in creating an image of playfulness as the reader notes the purposefully reluctant nature of
the character as a way of following a personal and human romance. In the most telling pun of
the stanza, as the female fish “swallows/his charms hook, line, and sinker” we find that only the
physical image of swallowing is relatable to the fish, as the attraction to the other character’s
charms is very human and highlights a very personal and human interaction, felt by the reader.
The next stanza creates an impression of wistfulness and dreaming through additional
metaphor, which will associate the reader with feelings of romance, desire, and intimacy.
By using an idea of going to the ocean, the two fish highlight a sense of desire through
metaphor, which is captured personally by the reader as the acknowledgement of a couple’s
dreams and wishes. By saying “he would/take her to the ocean, they could/ count the waves”
the poem expresses desire partly through the male fish’s point of view, because he is trapped in
an isolated tank of water and thus shows a desire to join the freedom of a moving ocean with a
companion; in parallel, the symbolism and romance of the ocean, and the view of counting the
waves (which could only be experienced by watching on the beach as humans do, not by fish
swimming in the water) shows a deep human romance, rather than that of two fish, and
creates wistfulness within the reader. The alliteration provided by “There, / in the submarine
silence” offers an “s” sound, creating a hushed and intimate setting that imparts a sense of
calm on the reader. Also, by saying that the two fish would “dive for pearls/like stars” a contrast
is created between the riches of the sky and the deep sea as a simile expresses the fishes’
desires; the inclusion of stars highlights a more human wistfulness and sparks quiet nostalgia
and a sense of romance within the reader. The next stanza (stanza 4) expresses a change in
tone as the male fish loses the female’s love and lives in a state of melancholy, creating deep
empathy from within the reader.
The fourth stanza of the poem finally breaks the pattern of the central metaphor as it is
stated that “her love’s since gone belly up. His heart sinks/ like a fish”. The simile expressed
finally acknowledges the man behind the romantic notions, and the fish is dispelled in a
technique that shows that its purpose was for describing the man’s love and that it is now
gone; the sudden change in tone creates a sympathetic, human response from within the
reader as the character expressing the love becomes vulnerable and truly exposed from behind
the metaphor. By saying that he “drowns those sorrows, /stares emptily through glass” there is
still a sense of metaphor that may impart the image of a fish trapped behind the glass of its
fishbowl; however, the primary idea is that of a man who has sought alcohol as a respite from
the sadness, and hopelessly considers the empty glass that sits before him. The image is lonely
and resigned, and creates sympathy from the reader and a sense of regret that the love is gone.
The most poignant part of the poem is expressed when the reasons for the loss of love between
the man and the woman are revealed metaphorically, and elicit a final sense of relatability to
the persona and feelings of regret from an understanding reader.
The use of punctuation in the last stanza serves to physically separate the male and
female personae and highlight to a deep extent the cause for the rift between them; the
physical use of punctuation guides the reader towards a sad realization about the relationship.
First, the two lines “(the reason, she said/she wanted)”, followed by “(and he could not give)”
are separated parenthetically and by different lines, showing that a quality lacking within the
man was a cause for the woman’s dissatisfaction and physical separation from him; it shows the
reader that the cause for the rift is made primarily from the woman’s unhappy state in the
relationship, and garners sympathy toward the male character. The reason for the female’s
departure, also punctuated deliberately, is that the male could not provide “a life/beyond the/
(bowl)”. The enjambment heightens the sense of drama seen in the words, and aids in showing
the continuously bound and restricted state of the male persona; “a life/ beyond the” is the
only part of the poem unbound by parenthesis, highlighting the woman’s desire to surpass
boundaries. However, by reintroducing the parenthesis into the final line and word “(bowl)”,
we are brought back to the restrictive life of the man, who could not provide the sense of
freedom seen as essential to the woman; the reader feels a final sense of resignation as the
process of pursued, obtained, and ultimately lost love is experienced.
The use of fish within Grace Chua’s poem (love song, with two goldfish) became of
mechanism with which the reader could relate himself to the process of love, noting the initial
infatuation, silly romance, wistful experiences, and loss and vulnerability that serve within the
process. Though many elements of this poem are comedic and consist of puns that aid in the
lighthearted love describing the man and woman leading the ideas of the poem, the loss of
central metaphor produced a stripped down and final image of love in a failed state. Love
ceased to be mutual within the poem, and its end was driven by the desires that could not be
met in the woman’s point of view. These ideas of dissatisfaction and desire overshadow the
more superficial notions of love and call into question the reality and necessities of humans:
deep desires that drive their search for love.