A Simple Fish | #PlanetOrPlastic

I am a simple fish. I do not dream big dreams. I do not remember a time before the deadly food amassed itself into new patches of floating land. The stories have been passed down from the old fish to the young fish like me.

They say that beings used to come in large vessels to trap us in nets; the same nets that float above us and wave with deadly fingers from below. The vessels don't come here anymore. There are not many of us left to catch. According to legend, there used to be fishes big and small, bold and brightly colored-- not only a plain silver color like me. They say that there used to be giant fish with sharp bones in their mouths that they used to kill their food. They sound like creatures only legends can create. But the ocean from this before-time is one I can almost imagine.

The ancient sea turtles tell of a time when our home was wide open, clear blue, and teeming with life. I am not sure what 'teeming' means, but it sounds like a good word. While I swim through the broken bits of death debris, carefully weaving past the unnatural shells hundreds of years old, I try to pretend I can see through the haze into the past... I pretend that the ocean is big and wide again. I can swim in any direction without risk of eating the wrong pieces of food. I dream that I can swim fast and free, never colliding with the pieces making their way to the down-deep. I am a simple fish; I do not know that I dream big dreams.

Cover Photo by Yannis Papanastasopoulos on Unsplash