Meeting a Creature on My List and Not Even Realizing It

bobbing there in Henderson Swamp
it looks like a dogfish
   (or sandshark)
gone belly up
so I paddle on over
and scoop it up

Holy Fuck!
it’s half a paddlefish
or spoonbill
a shovelnosed cat

And there it is!
all rubbery fleshed
and torn /
or chopped /
or gnawed /
in half

Wow! I grip its ridiculous
          proboscis:
its spatulated longschnozz
ballooning cartoony

“BLAWGH!”
its mouth opens up
as balinesque filters
wiggle at me

this rare endangered specie
hasn’t even met
rigor mortis yet

What a weird fish!
I can’t fathom it
how it got here
why it’s in half

its beady little eyes
make me laugh
its primitive gills
make me think

          super-chouette

(the French word for cool)

I take its picture
toss it back in
to the murk of its
mysterium

So what if it’s dead?
I paddle on.