Big Fish
A kid down the street caught a Big Fish
-so big the guts fed birds and insects for a month
They toted it up on a land raft and log rollers to St Kevin’s
Church
Brothers of Kevin dug a pit, chopped logs, and rubbed the
fish with fistfuls of spice,
sank it in buckets of lime juice, covered it with fronds and
waited for the coals to ready
At dusk, K-town came out and block-partied the street with
festoons, petals, and lanterns
Musicians strummed two-steps pokily on ancient lutes and
flutes amid laughter and noise
The Giant Fish roasted next to minor pits for a spitted
suckling pig, a lamb, a goat, and the
days catch
Jimmy-Who-Caught-the-Fish and his pals kicked balls and wrestled
on the blocked-off Church street
The other kids danced and twirled, sang songs upon the music
and strew flowers on the pavement
The men and old timers sipped rum concoctions, chortled, and
told the tale of the other Big Fish
The women and aunties danced folklorically, mixed colored
punch and braided girls’ hair
The delicious Big Fish, pig, lamb, and goat were forked out
on plates of beans, onions, and parsley
Everyone ate and drank then danced in the night lit by
colorful lanterns
Young couples backed away together into the woods and churchyard
for moonlit courtship
Men rode scooters and motorcycles in bibulous circles as
children cheered, throwing streamers
Grandmothers played basketball with little girls in party
dresses, bangles, and flower hats
All night festivities swirled till the musicians dozed and
people arm-in-arm, slipped home to sleep
At dawn, the Brothers burned the festival jetsam in the fire
pit’s dying coals, swept the streets,
helped the hungover home and rang the church bells as
roosters crowed
A famous artist painted Jimmy-Who-Caught-the-Fish and the Big
Fish on the town wall
After 100 years Jimmy was buried under St Kevin’s Church floor,
a fish-brick marks his crypt
And somewhere - in the lake - another Big Fish longs to be
caught as St. Kevin’s quietly waits
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