Cruel as cornflakes.

CORPORATE GOLDFISH BY DAVID BARNES 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 14

Cruel as cornflakes

sinking through the serial bowl

The corporate goldfish

circle in the 20-storey shark tanks

of La Défense

Shoals of scheming fool’s gold fish,

victims of their own motivational seminars

calling one thing another

till reality diffuses into the ocean...

This is the Age of Aquariums

and the corporate goldfish

food-chained to their desks

Their shades are mirrored on the inside

they sharpen their suits

the corporate goldfish

David Barnes says he is an escaped Briton, escaped to France that is, who runs SpokenWord, the biggest English-speaking open microphone poetry performance in Paris, or even the only one (https://spokenwordparis.org). He has been reading his poems aloud in Paris bars since 2003. Barnes was interviewed by Trace Sheridan in 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 08, titled Hemingway-esque, and we ran his story, Borrowing the House for the Weekend.