The State Fair
For an hour in the late afternoon
we walk around the building at the fair
where aquariums line the outside walls,
where all the species native to Nebraska
look out and swim: from the ugly gar
and paddlefish to the perch and various
bass – all the fish the young at heart
might hope to bring up from near-by lakes.
This building set apart from vendors
and midway of rides we walk past
(at three dollars a throw), choosing
bumper boats to drop ourselves into,
and after the rubber life boat’s frenzied
bump and splash, returning to the fish
tanks and the larger aquarium, where
the sixty-three pound flathead catfish
and lunker bass live, the faces of
everyone in the submerged windows
below the surface, worth the price of
admission, just to hide out here with
the fish, the water and glass holding
us apart and keeping us together.
--Michael Knisely
