The Flower That Is A Talking Fish

The second of my unconventional coastal flowers is the Talking Fish.

For the Talking Fish to be considered a flower I must redefine flower even more loosely as something orange.

That's ridiculous. I'll try again. Something that stands upright on one leg and has a head....and is orange.

The Talking Fish is another piece of esplanade art to be found at Seacliff. It has a message. The government is building a desalination plant in the gulf, which will result in saltier water. There are those who think this will be unpleasant for the fish.

Look now, at the Talking Fish. He is stencilled in black onto a sand coloured shade cloth tacked to the wire fence beside one of the sandhill exits. His body is coloured orange. He stands upright on a bifurcated tail fin. He looks angry. A speech bubble comes out of his open mouth. The words in the speech bubble are, I can't live in brine, Desal is not fine.

It is disturbing on so many levels. Firstly, the artistic. The orange colour reappears in ghostly form behind the fish in some sort of blotting accident. The final 'n' and 'e' are badly blurred, and the words are placed too low down in the bubble.

Secondly, the Talking Fish is obviously a goldfish, and they don't live in the gulf anyway.

Thirdly, the most disturbing thing of all....maybe it's just me but.....I can't live in Brine, Desal is not fine....okay it rhymes, and scans, with five syllables in each line, but somehow it doesn't seem to.

That is all I'll say,
Until the next day.

Pliny's Haiku

Pliny the Elder is looking as though he hasn't had much sleep.

Good morning Pliny? I say. How's the Haiku coming along?

It's more difficult than I expected, he answers wearily. I have made multiple attempts to better your Haiku.

Read them out, I say, encouragingly.

Alright, here is my first attempt:

the sign on the path
reads no boats allowed in the yellow areas
which is amusing

Pliny! that's no good. You don't say why it's amusing, and no one would guess.

I know, says Pliny. I told you it was my first attempt. Here is my second:

surely this sign
would be better directed
at boats ?

Hmm. That doesn't do it either, Pliny. You don't explain what the sign says.

True, says Pliny. But stay with me. I'm just letting you in on the creative process. Here is my third attempt:

what is the point
of facing a sign directed at vessels
inland?

That's a bit better, but it doesn't sound very poetic, and it still leaves out a lot. What the sign says, what colour it is.....

Exactly, says Pliny. I came to the realization late last night that English is not the best language for Haiku. And since I am unfamiliar with Japanese, I decided to write one in Latin. I think you will agree that I have succeeded rather well.

Go on.

Pliny stands up and declaims in his best Roman style:

naves non licet ( boats not allowed )
in regione flava ( in the yellow area )
non ante naves ( not facing the boats )

I am silent.

Why are you silent?

I'm silent with admiration Pliny. That is so Japanese! You've got everything in. It's mind-boggling. You've even got the correct number of syllables!

Yes, says, Pliny. I know. Thank you.

No Vessels Allowed

I don't know much about Haiku, observed Pliny the Elder, but I do feel that ' no vessels allowed in the areas marked in yellow ' is not a good example of the genre.

Well I don't know much about them either, I said. That is why I was able to turn out so many in such a short time. However I disagree with you about ' no vessels allowed'. I think it encapsulates exquisitely the sensation of reading a sign beside a path at the beach.

Only because that is exactly what it is, said Pliny. You haven't transformed it in any way.

No, I haven't, I agreed. Because with Haiku you only get three lines. And that is very restricting.
In Japanese the form is even more restrictive. The first line must have 5 syllables, the second line 7 and the third line 5. In English we allow ourselves a bit more freedom. The first line must be short, the second long, and the third line short. Nevertheless, there wasn't much room to tell the story of the sign.

The story?

Yes, I would have liked to make it clearer that the sign was facing the footpath, so no one on a vessel could have seen it, which was obviously quite funny.

Funny? You didn't make that clear at all. Perhaps if you had tried a little harder?

I don't think so. But I don't think anyone else could have done better.

I believe I could, said Pliny. Yes, I shall rise to the challenge.