Aquatic Politics

Lifelessly still,

he lurks lazily between faux moss rocks:

my genuine

"handmade fighting fish art glass blown sea animal figurine"

from a collection where

"the items are not come from china!"

the ad said

complete with exclamation point

and lack of capital

demoting china from a proper place

to a lower case place beneath Thailand, capitalized,

"all of them are made by artisan in Thailand"

which as we all know

is the true home

not only of the

"handmade fighting fish art glass blown sea animal figurine"

but of betta,

genuine Siamese fighting fish,

such as mine

who no longer swims under the filter's waterfall

nor threads through the "MADE IN CHINA" plastic rock arches

nor lies lazily on the "MADE IN CHINA" faux moss rocks . . .

perhaps if

the moss rocks and rock arches

were MADE IN THAILAND

and not MADE IN CHINA

he would have felt more at home.