PAPERBLEATS

Thanks for all the fish

(text written by Chih Hua Huang)

​
 

That day
by observing the traces of water
I was trying to understand how fish swim

​

Later, I explained the theory to others

Also the surprising hidden message I found
From those slow and elegant movements.
 

50 years ago from now seems to be not so far,
When the sky was still blue.

I remember at that period time
people had feelings about happiness and sadness.

I can't remember since when
did we start to be trapped in this long long journey.

 

As people always want to pursue a better life,
here starts from migration
and for progression.

I am just the very ordinary one of them.
and so today I moved again.
Everything seems to be quite normal.
But not this one.

I was so shocked!
ALL MY FISH ARE GONE!

Did they move out one day earlier than me?

​

So I hear the calling

the memory
Dry out
on the seashore

Land
Two lost human
Naked bodies
Swimming like a fish

Later
revisit
That place

Then, two stranded fish on the seashore.

Inhale
Exhale
Inhale 
Exhale
i-Hale
ex-Hale
HALE….ha…..le...

Try to breath
As much as they can

I didn't dare to watch them directly
But still peaking secretly from a tiny hole

breath-taking

 

If you still remember the shape of the water
Don't forget that there are actually multiple versions of it.
Pond is the muted version.
Ocean is the flat version.
Cloud ? might be the free version.
Then rain? Mmh.. I guess is the sorrowful one 
And we all feel the same.
 

Cities are flooded everywhere!
Well, most people were pretty enjoying it.
Spending all day playing in the water....
(Humans swim better than fish!)

Public transport already changed from bus to speedbus
To the Speed of light. Oh, their ultimate goal is to disappear I guess.

Wow, here comes a submarine!
And another one. Smoother and faster.

No one is talking about the land?
Well as most people have been fighting with the sea level for years.

The so-called <city> referred to an upper land

(Or let's say, the upper class)

Of Course most people from the lowland know how to swim.

 

But not me.

I am worried, frustrated and anxious all the time.
What should I do if I can never learn how to swim?
(Elimination is not an unusual thing.)

Water is approaching the land
Closer and closer 
Little by little

Now it seems to be worse.
(Admission is not an easy thing.)
And a bit overwhelming 

so I started to fight against it
With my imagination…
Lets see if it works

I imitate the fish
according to my memory 
To pretend I belong to the place

then my body becomes elegantly light…
But ugly, transforming 
at the same time,
Moving forward, social awkwardly
mumbling

But failed

Day goes by
I sank
satisfying…
gradually
down
in this wide wide
innocent dream

 

But red is a color of which people are afraid.
Water performs like this
In a terrible circulation
Endlessly
Connecting
Tangling
And Redding
Everyone, everyplace
all together.

“...Come again another day
Little fishy want to play
Rain, Rain Go away...”

There ain't an option to escape
Weaving from the sky to river
Neatly
mountains to ocean
silently
highlands to lowlands
deadly.

Showers forecast to ease in few hours
So we chose to lie down together
soaking in this sweet sweet river.

​

​

Still they stay.
Stay in this concrete forest where trees grow so strangely up to the sky.
One shouted,
“Darwin comes to town!
no more seeds will ever sprout!
no root will ever grow!
But the man-made trees are going to spread
and support all you need!”

Trees give all their support to prevent the sky from collapsing.
Does that even make sense?

 

Once again I replayed the video of my memory

Stranger than fiction,

there is the square in front of the temple around my neighborhood

 

When I was a child I used to catch fish with my brother.

Across from the temple,

looking into a deep deep ditch

The time when they thought I was so respectful.

Kowtowing the land.

The funny fact is that

I was just carefully observing a huge underground aquarium.

​

silhouette of a little girl

an empty bucket

standing still

waiting for nothing

stuck in the mud

lost all her desire

 

The last message I received was this,

'So long and thanks for all the fish!'

I already know that you will run away from me

and never return.

 

Days became longer than the river in front of my house. 

The ruined place over there

was where I used to live.

I feel grateful for being so cultivated by this land.

In the end, I bid goodbye to the cold cold sun.

​

People are now seeking a solution.
clumsily
Or try to make it worse?
If you wonder where all the fish has gone, ask the rainforest
If you wonder where all the fish has gone, ask the seashore
If you wonder where all the fish has gone, ask a fish
 

My last memory about that is
a body of a fish being flushed down the toilet
helplessly
I can still hear its scream
Fading
Away from the deep deep hole.

We finally arrived at the end of the ocean...