a man in france
caught a goldfish
which weighed
nearly seventy pounds
in a scenic lake
which he named carrot

goldfish are
fascinating in how
they grow to the size
of their environment

each little fish
swimming around their
tiny aquariums
dream of growing
to the size of a shark

yet they do not
as their metabolism
is controlled by
the amount of food
and available space
if they kept growing
they would pollute
the water and kill
off all life in
the world around them

humans don’t have
the necessary biology
to restrain themselves
yet we are all shoved
into the same glass bowl
forced to compete for
scraps all while living
our best solipsistic
states of being

i always wondered why
betas were named that
they flare their fins
and attack any other
fish who dares enter
their sacred solarium
these are the actions
most commonly seen as
alpha in their dominance

then i saw it through
the warped curve of
this human fishbowl

they are betas because
they refuse to be a part
of a greater community
flaring up and assuming
because they only see
themselves as righteous
and above simple ideas
of living and let live
they can never truly be
alpha status without ever
taking in the notion of
the good for every fish

goldfish don’t have to
rail against the gatekeepers
out of a desire to be one
that is a beta mentality
and why they die alone

goldfish adapt and thrive
if given the right environment
while the humans shit in the
same bowl and blame everyone else
for cloudy water conditions