Aquarium
by Yoko Dano
screaming i woke from a nightmare―
i was one of a thousand showy goldfish,
fluttering in a huge LED-lit glass bowl,
my voice silently rising as tiny bubbles.
AUTHOR’S NOTE ON THE PHOTO: I took this photo at the Art Aquarium Show at JR Hakata City Building (Japan).
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This poem was inspired by “Art Aquarium” held in Hakata, Kyushu, Japan, in 2014.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Yoko Danno lives in Kobe, Japan. For decades, she has written poetry solely in English. Her poems have appeared internationally in numerous journals and anthologies, online, and in print. Her books of poetry include Epitaph for memories (The Bunny and the Crocodile Press, 2002); The Blue Door, a collaboration with James C. Hopkins (The Word Works, 2006); a sleeping tiger dreams of manhattan: poetry, photographs and sound by Danno, Hopkins, and Bernard Stoltz (The Ikuta Press, 2008, and translated and published in Latvia, 2012); Trilogy & Hagoromo: A Celestial Robe (The Ikuta Press, 2010); and Aquamarine (Glass Lyre Press, 2014). Her translation, Songs and Stories of the Kojiki, the creation myth, songs and historical narratives, compiled in the 8th c., Japan, was published by Ahadada Books (Toronto/Tokyo, 2008, and Red Moon Press, 2014). Visit her at http://ikutapress.com/danno3.html.
Silver Birch Press 
Wonderful poem. It made me believe I was the fish.
Such power in brevity. Well done!