ZEPHYR ZHANG 张挚

with friends like these

I am house-sitting a fish
it keeps doing this thing where it pretends to be dead
and then looks at me to check if I noticed
my friend tells me it's doing it for attention
I say that doesn't make it any less valid
it's still a call for help

I tell my friend that I'm thinking about donating a kidney
she says why are you telling me this
donating an organ doesn't make you a good person  

my friend is telling me about her very long dream
I think about that meeting where the main topic was scheduling another meeting
I think about my colleague telling me the difference between a variegated melon and a non-variegated melon
I tell my friend I think I might have adhd
she says no you don't 

on friday night I consider going out
instead I watch the fish breathe
in and out, in and out

Zephyr Zhang 张挚 is a writer and performer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Their poetry is published in various places starting with the letter 'S': Starling, Sweet Mammalian, Symposia, The Spinoff, and (this is a stretch) Poetry Lab Shanghai.

Zhang comments: 'This poem is the product of a New York Times article called "Who Is the Bad Art Friend?" and weekends spent alone in a house, staring at a goldfish.'

​Poem source details >

 

​Links

Zephyr Zhang's website

 

Photographer credit: Todd Karehana and Julie Zhu