the malt liquor massacre

you remember
the time
your criminally
insane friend
jimmy poured
a beer
into his girlfriend's
fish tank.
it was swarming
with happy tropical
fish, swimming
easily through
the little castle
at the bottom
and hiding between
the green flow
of fake leaves.
he was surprised
at how they suddenly
stiffened and shook
like vibrating
little lights,
then turned sideways
before floating
to the top.
each fish had a name,
he found out
later, little fish
names. wiggly,
and chester, jenny
and jill.
Cinderella.
there was even a jack.
your friend
replaced them all,
but his relationship
with this person
was never the same
after murdering her
fish with a sixteen
ounce can
of malt liquor
beer.