Dropsy Lives On

A Poem for Dropsy

A Poem for Dropsy
by Connie Coady

Dropsy,

I met you once, cutting cheeses and bread with a dull knife in Jacks' cluttered and molding kitchen. The refrigerator light had gone out and one of us was a little bit hungover. A white paper bag of wasted pastries on a wire shelf next to cheap wine and nothing. I could see you halfly, and could tell your eyes were bigger than your head and imagined your head being heavy and making you turn circles in your grim water. The water was black and green and the walls of your home were black and green and I couldn't tell if you were black or green or something else entirely. We acknowledged you, but after that, there was little indication that you were still in the room. You, your peachy skin ; we, distracted by our own more sun-worn flesh.

Feeling guilty I wrote you this poem:

A seizure in my breakfast, milk

Your home. My porous Fruit-Loops

Your pulsy, bangled body

Clouds evict your skyline

The rooms of your home stolen

through the walls and window.

A compromise is half your body

A tail is half, the other parts I don't know

much about the anatomy of fish

When we sleep do you speak a voice like noon?

Or tell secrets to your argonite, calcite,

dappled neon wasteland?

I push your Penn plax jewel stones

and wet my sleeve to grip you with my

fingers and put you on my open tongue

and swim you through my mouth and throat.

I'd comb your hair

if you had it; take you to the park

on Sundaysin my pocket little lint

under your armpit, your heart and lungs

a scaley denim tomb.

Dead before the train came.

We sunbathe anyway in for me

the grass a blanket, for you

a thousand tiny teeth.

I'd let you live there, my babbling belly.

You can hear us

drink like fishes, gulping til our lungs hurt,

swallow boring jealousy, the walls and contents

of our own homes, all of us

blind of the oceans inside us.

Eggs and Jam for Dropsy

Eggs and Jam for Dropsy
by Jack Morgan

I boil an egg in my toaster.
Making the most of it.

You kiss the sky again.
Making the most of it.

I have one egg bowl and one spoon and one friend.
Making the most of it.

You have three friends and me.
Making the most of it.

When you fly like you do when you do what you do,
I cannot believe

civilized people
eat fish.

Upon Our Last Visit

Upon Our Last Visit
by Jack Morgan

Your gills vermilion on.
Inside when.

Plunged my head in.
Your turquoise prison.

Come on in.
Thank you.
You're welcome.

I saw Magenta for a fortnight.
She was fucking crazy.

Swimming toy fish aquarium having magnetic drive system for magnetically driving the toy fish in the aquarium

Swimming toy fish aquarium having magnetic drive system for magnetically driving the toy fish in the aquarium
by William Moor


What is claimed is:

1. A swimming toy system comprising:

(a) an aquarium tank and water within the tank, the tank having a bottom wall and opposite side walls;

(b) a toy swimming in the water within said tank, the water toy comprising a body having means to at least partially float the toy body, and a magnet within the body;

(c) a first elongated housing and a second elongated housing, said housings being positioned at the bottom of the tank, on opposite side walls of said tank;

(d) a first magnetic drive within said first elongated housing and a second magnetic drive within said elongated second housing, each magnetic drive comprising a rotatable spindle;

(e) at least one magnetic member having north/south poles mounted on each spindle; and

(f) means to rotate the spindle of the first magnetic drive in a clockwise direction and to rotate the spindle of the second magnetic drive in a counter-clockwise direction, to thereby cause the toy to rise and swim in the tank.

2. A swimming toy system as in claim 1 wherein the aquarium tank is transparent and generally rectangular, having four opposite walls.

3. A swimming toy system as in claim 1 wherein the water toy is a toy fish.

4. A swimming toy system as in claim 3 wherein said aquarium contains a plurality of said toy fish which swim independently and in different directions simultaneously.

5. A swimming toy system as in claim 1 wherein each housing includes means to removably fasten the housing onto the tank.

6. A swimming toy system as in claim 1 further including a motor means comprising a first electric motor in the first housing and a second electric motor in the second housing.

7. A swimming toy system as in claim 6 further including a transmission within each housing for driving the spindle in said housing comprising at least a belt, a pinion, a pulley and a gear, and wherein each motor drives each spindle through its respective transmission.

8. A swimming toy system as in claim 1 wherein a plurality of magnets are mounted on each spindle.

9. A swimming toy system as in claim 1 wherein each housing has a connecting surface connected to the tank, each connecting surface having reversed, generally C shape and each housing having a clasp to hold the housing onto the tank.

10. A swimming toy system comprising:

(a) an aquarium tank containing water, said tank having a bottom wall and opposite side walls;

(b) a plurality of water toys adapted to swim in water in said tank, each water toy comprising a toy body having means to at least partially float the toy body, and a magnet within said body;

(c) a first elongated housing and a second elongated housing, each housings being adapted to be positioned proximate the bottom of said tank, on opposite side walls thereof;

(d) a first magnetic drive within the first housing and a second magnetic drive within the second housing, each magnetic drive comprising a rotatable spindle;

(e) means to rotatably mount each spindle;

(f) at least one magnetic member having north/south poles mounted in each spindle; and

(g) motor means to rotate the spindle of the first magnetic drive in a clockwise direction and to rotate the spindle of the second magnetic drive opposite thereto in a counter-clockwise direction to thereby cause the water toys to rise and swim in the tank.

11. A swimming toy system as in claim 10 wherein the aquarium tank is transparent and rectangular tank having four opposite walls.

12. A swimming toy system as in claim 10 wherein each water toy is a toy fish and the plurality of toy fish swim independently in different directions.

13. A swimming toy system as in claim 10 wherein each housing is removably secured onto the tank.

14. A swimming toy system as in claim 10 wherein the motor means comprises a first electric motor in the first housing and a second electric motor in the second housing.

15. A swimming toy system as in claim 14 and including a transmission within each housing comprising at least a belt, a pinion, a pulley and a gear and wherein each motor drives each spindle through its respective transmission.

16. A swimming toy system as in claim 10 wherein a plurality of magnets are mounted on each spindle.

17. A swimming toy system as in claim 10 wherein each housing has a connecting surface adapted to be connected to the tank, each connecting surface having a reversed, generally C shape, and means for securing each housing onto the tank.

Dropsbox

Dropsbox
by Paul Ebenkamp

Right
as you ask for it the signs in your mouth change. Unfin my ungainly aim.
In the absence of machines great and ready enough to feed
you, for a change,

the fact
that all animals owe themselves great sums of money
looking busy
enriches us all, enlarges the sphere of what is known, shines
a little light on the terror or property rights
of being in
and out of each other in mere order.

I espouse your inverted unrest. Your favorites
arrive marked in reverse. Do you savor the change
in your clothes, or will the water settle? Yes, my gloved one, I find hairs from your body in my dreams, white
as innards.
Dropsy,

of ownership and entitlement
you know so little. Soon you are going to stand
up.

Devil Style Cajun Bayou

Devil Style Cajun Bayou
by Sara Mumolo

Down in the country
how far did your river go
why must these days move so slow
Dropsy, Id make your tank big enuff' for two

I'd jump in paddlin' through our enclosed creek
In the summertime, Dropsy, I'd set you free
Oh, dear Jack Morgan would never forgive me
cause, dropsy you're a sunrise off the southern pine

Everything about you is oh so fine
while your swimmin' free we can tear bacon with our teeth
a lil' lovin' and some suds down in the country
Dropsy, at least I'd make your tank big enuff' for two

I'll take away your upside down swimmin' frowns
Just pick me up on your way back down
we'll get your woman back, give her bastard a good ol' smack
cause dropsy that's how we do it, down here in the country

And now your darling goldie of blue star dancehalls
swims the pints of low bars & barnyard discos,
that poor sweet scaly Texas rose
Dropsy, I'd make your tank big enuff' for two

You may be Jack's pride and joy
but fishy babe, that cowboy 'ill find another toy
Dropsy, come back down to where you belong
& we'll shot down stars all night long

Dropsy way here in bayou & down in the gulf
things are getting' harder, things are getting rough
times broke on the farm, thinking of you the star of country down
oh' fishy babe, I'd at least make your tank big enuff' for two