Goldfish/ Tiger/ Oriole

Goldfish

I am slick, wet orange in a pool too big for myself

with bulging black seeds for eyes, but I’ll forget the view tomorrow.

In a mind where I can’t remember my yesterdays, all I know is that I am small and afraid. 

I live on bubbles of air and hope I’ll make it across the sea tonight.

Tiger

I am rough, matted orange digging my claws in the dirt.

Black stripes line my back like tallies, every day another I can’t hold myself in this body.

I don’t know why I am, but the thought consumes me until I hunt for something fragile.

My mouth drips red, and I scream to the dark sky, alone. 

Oriole 

I am silk, plumose orange atop a mango tree— a morning’s flight. 

Black beak pointed towards the wind, I know where I’ll go next.

I’ve let go of thinking— it’s living I feel now and that is enough.

I can spread my arms however far and mimic the sun. 

Kiara Benoit ‘26

This is probably one of my favorite poems I've written this year. In the form of a triptych, I see this piece as the progression of life from youth to adulthood. The goldfish represents being a child and fearing the unknown, the tiger represents teenage years and the struggles of feeling foreign to yourself, and 

the oriole represents the final stage of life, adulthood, and beyond that, where we can finally be sure of the life we are living and, hopefully, be satisfied with it. I also chose to tie those themes together with animals of the same prominent colors, orange and black, to show how these three differing attitudes can exist within one person's life.