issue 24 > light verse > chandler

I celebrate the great sardine
and count the ways I love it: dried,
in cans, smoked, salted, deep-fat fried,
filleted in soup and fish terrine.
I love its pre-cooked beauties, too -
its sleek and shiny silver skin,
its single tiny dorsal fin -
before it hits the barbecue.
Young herring, swimming in the sea,
awash in your Omega-3,
soon you shall pay a hefty price
and end up on a bed of rice.
For now, take heart in that you're free,
not packed inside this train, like me.