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.