Fish & Chips

Thawed from the freezer,
thawed from the sea,
I hold something that was once
a cod.
Where a skin of scales
used to be,
there is now only
batter
that drags on
and drips off
like the pulling
of a sheet
draped over a corpse.
An unspoken act
of violence,
of viscosity.

How long does it take
to fall
from Heaven
to Hell?
It's guaranteed to be fresh,
so it can't be long.
From the endless ocean
to fryer number 4
in under 7 days.

It took God
7 days
to create the world.

The new skin
bubbles
and blows open
in the midst of canola oil.
Similar to what happens
to fish that come up
from the depths
too fast.
Decompression.

Something explodes
and I feel my knuckle
begin to boil under heat.
And I let the fish go.
But something else
floats back up.
This disfigurement,
this reconstructive surgery,
this reanimation
of skin over a corpse,
I serve to you
with fries.

A dark spot
has been growing
onto my skin
where I was burned.
Though I am certain
that I am not immersed
in canola oil,
I can't help but feel like
I'm growing new skin.