Rip Tide, by Alice Sims-Gunzenhauser

Fish Magic, by Paul Klee (Switzerland) 1925

Rip Tide

for Bill, by way of Paul Klee, Fish Magic
 
The world in the painting is dark,
lit by six fish from points on a rainbow 
above fluorescent traces of genial figures. 
In this world, the sea’s abyss holds flowers, 
the darkness is soft, like night
around a sleeping child
with all the colours tucked in, snug. 
 
Did you see colours, that day in the ocean?
Did the day start with a child’s palette?
As wave after wave turned from play
and held you away from the shore,
as safety receded again and again, 
as you carried your sister, your mother, 
and the strength in your arms
and legs gave out, was replaced 
by something less certain,
where were the magic fish then? 
I try to imagine that day.
Surely, the colours had faded
to nothing, except the red beat
of your heart, ten years old, 
alone, bringing the three of you home. 

Alice Sims-Gunzenhauser

Alice Sims-Gunzenhauser is a visual artist and poet who has been known to incorporate texts of her own in her visual work. Her poems have been published in Kelsey Review, US1 Worksheets, and the New Jersey Bards Anthology for 2026. She lives in New Jersey.