for B.R. Dionysius
cut with postmodern wit

i can carry the million pound tag

that will not release me

back into the wild
draw your outline on the glass

as you decipher the self

(in formaldehyde)

to witness again

how your mother pulled the teeth

you never knew she had

until you found them in your chest
the animal

you chose not

to cut in half

is the animal

known to leave

half an animal

in your hands
did we float

in this publicly listed company

along with other shareholders

who invest in the potential

for our death
this animal ←

was born when a photograph

could only persuade us

in the negative
so step back in the water
lean forward in the polaroid
your trial bite is free

unusual for a killing

to be launched

immediately
a bite made

so gently the victim

is unaware
as a survivor

you came ashore to describe

how you were bumped

by something →
← taken aback

by the sight of blood

streaming from a dozen incisions

harp notes on the skin

demonstrating how a life

could have been

unbuttoned
so step out of the water
many attacks are nothing more
( ) than a →
catch/

hold & release/

exercise/
your childhood never knew

the colour in a polaroid

would not last
this is a notable exception to there
a moment we re/hearsed

that cannot take its big idea to the grave

until either the lungs or the laughter

subside
this line was thrown out

because it was not needed

because one nightmare is efficient enough

energy equal to the substantiation of itself

fuel in a vein

pumping liquid cinema

into a lonely tank

rivets scalded to pinched sleep

where images combust in a rib brazier

intent on self defence

against our own cold thought
drifting in our craft

you offer the assurance

that with fourteen lines

you can pull in sharks

by the metre
on the fourth day

the lines yielded a large tyger

which you towed ashore

and opened on the beach

belt-tight in an underglow of rutile glare

poorly shielded by wind-shook hessian

as you felt the bulging stomach

you went cold as i ran

as you ran your hands

ran my hands over a smooth dome

→ obviously

the head of the unfortunate
you have altered the head

by not noticing

it’s there
you have altered the head

by not noticing

its face
this great blunt head

almost square edged

attacking a bait at speed

the teeth unmistakable

oblique blades deeply notched

rearward and cockscomb like

the flesh untethered from the bone

salted blue in a myth is deep fear

catapulted powerless to its red end
this great blunt head

almost square edged

abates its attack at speed

in its current life

unrolled over clean cartilage

is the physical prayer

is the swim in an uneven hunt

to bite off hands together in pairs

in communion in communion

incommunicado
your head was dismantled

by the fishbone

dreaming in your throat
every hour awash from every hour

the tide nothing but a broom

to sweep its infinite floor
items to recover

from the recovered animal

include
a lump of coal
a tattooed arm with rope around its wrist
a handbag containing a watch in perfect time
you have been sent here

to pay excise on lost memory
you are the only live bearer in this sentence
given the dubious honour

of evaluating every letter

to redecorate irrational probability

with the fresh stomach contents

from one suggestion
such an animal

is not easily brought

to the weighing station

much simpler to send it

to the auction house

to let an adman’s account

swallow gold value added as fillings

to a theoretic smile
white belly to white belly

position switched you stand above

lie below your uncut gnathic beast

held palm to sweated palm

its skin again the handle to an art

taut same-kawa on a Japanese sword

as sharp as sharper than mutual emulation

the price too to not cut it in half

to see ourselves in the same body

on this same line
we are hooks set back to back

only to have our animal escape

by straightening one hook

and breaking off the other
our kiss can only consist of teeth
we circle in the moment before

our spiracles ventilate cold steam

unthought through necessary instinct
our eyes will be reported as being

‘gleaming black’ protected by objective spirits

living inside transparent white eyelids

which will slam shut across our vision

when we launch the attack

on each other
this is the only known instance

where two lives were lost

in one shark
the physical death

of impossibility

in the mind

of someone living
in water

the shadows are too skilled

to pay their ransom
this broken ocean

will push these broken eyes

to the unfixed surface

of our last eye

in space
i was not said to myself

because you named me

without saying anything

*Or: remembering when B.R. Dionysius & Damien Hirst (both) wearing sharkskin suits met in the bar

of a luxury hotel – clinked glasses – but said nothing because they (both) knew Vic Hislop was still out

fishing.

Note: some passages, phrases and words were transcribed, copied or adapted from Fishes of Australia

by E.M. Grant (E.M. Grant Pty Ltd, Scarborough, 1987) and Guide to Fishes by E.M. Grant (Department

of Harbours and Marine, Brisbane, 1982).