By Button Poetry
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Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
One.
00:04
A magician talks about the record for holding one’s breath
00:07
as his assistant lowers herself into a tank of water.
00:11
And he calls it 22 minutes, but I promise you it’s longer.
00:17
I promise you it’s years.
00:20
Two.
00:22
This is how I remember it.
00:24
On our first date, he ran his fingertips across my skin
00:28
like he was reading my palm.
00:30
When I would fall asleep with my glasses on,
00:32
he slid them off and he cleaned them
00:35
and then placed them on my nightstand,
00:37
every single time.
00:40
Once, I took a sip of wine and I shrugged,
00:42
and I set the glass down on the counter and he poured it down the sink.
00:46
And then the entire bottle.
00:48
He said, “Life is too short for bad wine.”
00:52
He said, “You deserve better.”
00:56
Three.
00:58
I love doing magic tricks.
01:01
I love the way I know the lie from the beginning.
01:06
I love the way I can see the turn coming.
01:09
Four.
01:10
This is the hardest part.
01:13
That boy is not made of fists.
01:17
That boy learned how to braid my hair.
01:21
And these things do not untruth themselves when the first door slams.
01:26
And I did not stop loving him all the months I was holding my breath.
01:30
And this is the hardest part.
01:34
The way a fish is still a fish,
01:37
even after she’s been gutted,
01:40
even after her lip’s split clean in half
01:43
from the hook, and the hook, and the hook.
01:45
And do you think the fish blamed herself,
01:49
and her own stupid open mouth?
01:53
Do you think the fisherman apologized?
01:56
Said all he wanted was to hold her.
01:59
Said, “I have touched that hook for years, and it never once pierced me.
02:03
Darling, how could I have known?”
02:08
And do you think the fish forgave him?
02:12
Said, “I’m sorry, too.
02:14
I promise I will try harder to breathe outside the water.”
02:20
(applause)
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
The post Brenna Twohy – ‘The Fisherman Takes the Fish Home and Tells Her He Loves Her’ appeared first on The Good Men Project.