trout

Zot and the Axolotls

Janis Freegard

Earlier in the afternoon we had all admired
the newly constructed axolotl tank, more of
a complex really, with a glass bridge between
chambers – a grand axolotl hotel, five stars
with room service, porters and a parking attendant.
It was still empty, its soon-to-be residents
slumming it in temporary accommodation.

like other amphibians, the axolotl has a three-chambered heart
they are perennibranchiate and reach sexual maturity in the larval stage
axolotls were a staple in the Aztec diet

I was stoned, I remember that.

the axolotl is neotenous and rarely metamorphoses spontaneously
it can regenerate entire lost appendages in a matter of months
the days of the axolotl surviving in the wild are numbered

Zot tripped and fell to the floor and lay there,
unmoving, by the new de luxe tank. I was
sitting next to him in an armchair thinking:
Zot 's fallen over. Just that. It was someone
else – Denise perhaps – who noticed the
blood. Soon afterwards an ambulance arrived.

Lake Chalco has been drained (but see how they smile their wide amphibian smiles)
Lake Xochimilco is reduced to canals (oh, oh, those beady well-spaced eyes)
roll up, roll up, tasty axolotls

Oh see how their pretty gills flutter.