Four Poems by Matthew Olzmann

Four poems by alum Matthew Olzmann (poetry, ’09) appear at The Compass.

Letter to a Dead Goldfish

The child that I was wanted to save whatever life you were,
even if I couldn’t comprehend why
you were called a “goldfish” when no part of you was golden.
You were closer to the color of a clementine wedge:
your back was the unstoppable orange of that fruit’s skin,
and your belly, the white of the pith.
What makes it a “gold” fish? I would ask, and my parents,
exasperated, would answer: That’s just its name.

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