I’m jumping back into the warm poetic waters of dVerse Poets Pub, where this week’s Quadrille #228 invites us to write a poem of exactly 44 words including the word fish. A perfect prompt — especially for someone like me, who grew up on the water and swims in metaphors and short stories.
Fish Tales and Childhood Spells
fish tales
magic dragon scales
oh, the stories we tell
folk tales
Gulliver’s travails
sharp social parallels
Bible tales
with giant whales
Jonah is expelled
fairy tales
with mermaids' tails
dolphins leaping swells
wish tales
now bottled in shells
the castaways of childhood spells
This little poem wrote itself once I knew where I wanted to go: a meditation on tales — the stories we grow up with, the ones that shape our hearts, our humor, our values — and how they echo through time.
It starts with Puff the Magic Dragon, a song my mom adored. She loved Peter, Paul and Mary and sang their songs freely, fervently, joyfully, out-of-tunefully. She never bought into the vicious rumor that Puff was about pot smoking — and neither do I. Where’s the romance in that? Isn’t it enough that the song is about the deep ache of growing up, of leaving behind your dragons and boats and little paper crowns? That’s plenty. That’s enough to make me cry with longing for the innocence of childhood and the full-throated laughter of the souls we’ve lost along the way.
Then comes Gulliver, whose fantastical journeys first introduced me to the idea that literature could be sly and smart and clever and subversive — a commentary on society, but only for those in the know. Reading Gulliver’s Travels as a kid, I didn’t get all the satire, but I got that something was going on beneath the surface. Rereading it as an adult is like peeling an onion of uncomfortable truths. Which world are we in now? The tiny people or the giants? Or something darker? We know the answer to that, don’t we?
And then Jonah — the reluctant prophet, swallowed whole by a giant fish, spat out, and given another shot at doing the right thing. That tale has always been about faith and perseverance to me, about following through even when you’d rather run, give up, watch a Hallmark movie, or eat ballpark nachos with fake cheese. A good reminder, especially in these days when everything seems so tentative and precipitous. And dark.
I had to tap into the magic of the sea — mermaids, dolphins, and the wild wonder of fairy tales. (Neptune, Narissa, anyone?) My cover photo for this post is one I took of dolphins mid-leap, a real-life glimpse of the enchantment I’m trying to capture here, which can only faintly echo the squeals of delight those dolphins inspired in real life.
And finally, the beachy magic of my childhood, where fish tales and wish tales were real and the ocean really did bottle up secrets and stories in broken shells and body-surf swells, now just half-buried memories we seek like beachcombers. That imagery is something I come back to again and again in my poetry — you can see it in pieces like “Negation” and “My Days by the Water”. The shore was where I first learned to listen for stories, and the shore is where I return to find myself and my people, my poems and my stories. Like Puff, we frolicked in the autumn mist, but also the spring, the summer and the winter.
Those days are gone, but the memories are forever, like the shells I still have from my Mom’s collection.
Thanks for reading — and thanks to the dVerse community for always inspiring my creative journey.
I’d love to know: which tales and childhood spells shaped you?
© 2025, Glover Gardens
Loved this poem and the rhyming pattern. Great poem.
Thank you! It was fun to create.
Kim it feels like you’ve conjured them to return to you. So many instructive fishy tales to cherish <3
Yes, Lisa, you get it. But not just to return, to remain with me forever, in a different form. Like fossil imprints, a permanent reminder that they WERE. HERE. With me.
But Kim, they ARE <3
A magic spell quadrille indeed, Kim, with a fab shape and rhyming. I could do with some of those fish tales and magic dragon scales this morning to give me stamina for aqua aerobics! Or some of those ‘wish tales now bottled in shells’.
Thank you, Kim! I’m sure you found the stamina somewhere, perhaps in your own excellent poem!
Kim you got me, hook line and linker with this poem post.
I read the poem, thennthe process notes and thenbthebpoem once more.
Bravo.
And;
Thanks, for dropping by my blog.
Much♡love
I enjoyed your poem very much, and am delighted that you read mine twice. What praise!
such great rhythm in your verse Kim 🙌
Thank you so much! It took me a while to work it ’round.
Kim, this is delightful! I especially love how “wish tales / now bottled in shells” ties it all together—feels like a tender nod to the magic we carry forward.
Much love,
David
Yes, “the magic we carry forward” made possible by those who came before. You know what that’s about.
hug
This prompt took you far into your memories…
Yes, so far I made myself cry. More than once. But I’m sure they were tears that needed to be shed, and there is joy just ‘neath them.
I grew up land-locked and am envious of your watery growing up experiences. Thank you for adding notes to this lovely quadrille!!! Great reading.
Thank you so much, Helen, I felt a little freer after the poem and the notes. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
The jungle book. Treasure island. Jack London….
Fabulous inspirations, all!
What a wonderful little tribute to “tales”. Your notes were a delight to read as well.
Thank you so much, Mish. It’s lovely to have an outlet.
What a fine poem, splendid writing.
Thank you so much, Rene. Sometimes the short poems take the longest, and are the most satisfying, don’t you think? You have to be so careful with every word choice.
Yes, that’s true!
Loved each little snippet, and especially that last one of bottled wish tales…