Fishmouth

(album: Behind The Wallpaper - 2023)

When you walked in the door, they were waiting
They confronted you with the evidence
You'd been practicing in the mirror

They caught you off guard. You weren't ready.
If they'd waited another day, you would have been fine
But when you attempted to speak:

Whole fish flopping from your mouth
Wriggling on the floor
Gasping for air
Ocean water everywhere
Staining the carpet and running out the door

"So that's your secret?
You've been swallowing live fish?"
You weren't listening
You were trying to get the taste from your mouth

All over the city, you'd noticed people spitting on the sidewalks
You'd always just thought of them as rude
But now you wondered:
Did they try to explain a disconcerting situation to soon
And end up with the ocean in their mouths?

You could still taste the salt two weeks later
You could still feel the friction of the scales in your throat
And your teeth were slowly dissolving

All the dentists you saw shrugged their shoulders
They couldn't figure out what was happening
And bit by bit, you retreated from your daily life