Here 'tis ... I called it Mexican Walking Fish
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:18 pm
Mexican Walking Fish
Leonie Parker © 2010
I had an axolotl and I called him Axl Rose.
He didn’t swim like other fish. He walked round on his toes.
My friends said he was ugly but I thought that he was sweet.
I reckon they were jealous ‘cause I had a fish with feet.
Dad bought him for my birthday, and my Mum said “What’s it eat?”
I saw her raise her eyebrows when my Dad said “It eats meat”.
She shook her head and then she said “How big will this thing grow?”
You could have heard a pin drop when my dad said “I don’t know”.
My mother said (sarcastically) “So, have I got this right?
This thing is a meat eater, there’s a good chance it will bite
and you have no idea at all how big it’s gonna be.”
Dad, lacking sensitivity, said “Sounds ‘bout right to me.”
This made my mother livid and so she harangued my Dad.
“This bloody thing’s a carnivore, are you completely mad!
They probably just dragged it from a swamp and it’s still wild
and you go out and buy the thing and give it to our child!”
I don’t know how he did it but my Dad got his own way.
That’s how I got an axolotl for my tenth birthday.
Although my Mum gave in she never liked my walking fish.
She reckoned Axl saw our fingers as a tasty dish.
She didn’t need to worry because Axl had no teeth.
What food he could, he swallowed whole, and hid the rest beneath
the rocks and plants inside his tank. He hid some bits so well
we didn’t know he’d done it til his tank began to smell.
Axl grew like crazy and he soon outgrew his tank.
Mum went to the river and she chucked him off the bank.
When I got home from school and looked for him, she told a lie.
She told me he had run away and that I shouldn’t cry.
Axl’s out there, swimming free, that’s what my mother said.
I think she half believes it though she wishes he were dead
because I think she worries every time we get some rain
that Axl (grown to 20 feet) might slither out the drain.
Leonie Parker © 2010
I had an axolotl and I called him Axl Rose.
He didn’t swim like other fish. He walked round on his toes.
My friends said he was ugly but I thought that he was sweet.
I reckon they were jealous ‘cause I had a fish with feet.
Dad bought him for my birthday, and my Mum said “What’s it eat?”
I saw her raise her eyebrows when my Dad said “It eats meat”.
She shook her head and then she said “How big will this thing grow?”
You could have heard a pin drop when my dad said “I don’t know”.
My mother said (sarcastically) “So, have I got this right?
This thing is a meat eater, there’s a good chance it will bite
and you have no idea at all how big it’s gonna be.”
Dad, lacking sensitivity, said “Sounds ‘bout right to me.”
This made my mother livid and so she harangued my Dad.
“This bloody thing’s a carnivore, are you completely mad!
They probably just dragged it from a swamp and it’s still wild
and you go out and buy the thing and give it to our child!”
I don’t know how he did it but my Dad got his own way.
That’s how I got an axolotl for my tenth birthday.
Although my Mum gave in she never liked my walking fish.
She reckoned Axl saw our fingers as a tasty dish.
She didn’t need to worry because Axl had no teeth.
What food he could, he swallowed whole, and hid the rest beneath
the rocks and plants inside his tank. He hid some bits so well
we didn’t know he’d done it til his tank began to smell.
Axl grew like crazy and he soon outgrew his tank.
Mum went to the river and she chucked him off the bank.
When I got home from school and looked for him, she told a lie.
She told me he had run away and that I shouldn’t cry.
Axl’s out there, swimming free, that’s what my mother said.
I think she half believes it though she wishes he were dead
because I think she worries every time we get some rain
that Axl (grown to 20 feet) might slither out the drain.
Can you take me down to the river so we can go axoloyl spotting? That'd be fun ...