Better to meet a friend at the aquarium than any park
Soft blue meeting halls and a tide-slosh of small crowds
Schools of chatter and curious glances glint on glass
A volunteer wizard tells me how the rays will dance
As long as you don’t splash, give them time
But I’ll drift eventually, over to a snug familiar corner
Where the lights are dimmer, the glass thicker
Here, old friends peer lazily from half-pipes
Turn the head, acknowledge and retreat
Many times before, I fancied I could coax a smile
Or twist some tangibly happy shape from them
Now I realize only that I am still annoyed
That they don’t sell dolls of them in the gift shop.