The goldfish that
swallowed my ashes
now heads down the Tiber
askew
one fin working harder
than the others
dragging itself away
cutting across several
shipping lanes
where notwithstanding
the blatant disregard
of the weekend couples
sun stretching on l’Isola Tiburina
it comes to
an heroic terminus
in a flurry of reeds
under a brolly
of broken condoms.
~ Daniel Roy Connelly
Though English by birth, Daniel Roy Connelly has spent much of his adult life being educated in Italy, India, Bangladesh, the USA and Scotland. Formerly a British diplomat, he has been an academic since 1999. He has a BA from Columbia University and a MLitt and PhD from the University of St Andrews. He has directed theatre on three continents and was until 2010 the Artistic Director of Zuloo Theatre in Shanghai, where his production of David Henry Hwang’s ‘M. Butterfly’ was forced to close by the Chinese secret police. Daniel is currently an assistant professor at John Cabot University in Rome and at The American University of Rome.
Artwork: “Journey of Goldfish”, by Ebineyland
The goldfish that swallowed my ashes is a companion piece to The Disposal.
