"LOVE IS A FISH.
"A fish?" I said.
"It glimmers and splashes,
just out of reach.
And the day that you catch it,
if you know what you're doing,
you give it a kiss
and throw it back in the sea."
"But I don't like fish," I said.
They're slimy and taste bad.
And they have creepy eyes."
The fisherman sighed.
"You do not understand."
Wrapped in his grandmother's arms, a young boy's question about what love is goes unanswered. She does suggest that he find the answer he is seeking by going into the world and looking for the answer himself. And so, he goes.
He stops to ask many strangers. Each has their own personal answer: a fisherman says fish; an actor credits applause for his happiness; a cat suggests thehnight, and a carpenter mentions a house. None of the answers has meaning for the boy who is growing older and taller as he searches far and near.
"And so one day I returned
to the house where we lived."
As an astute reader might suspect, the answer is right in front of his eyes and he did not know it. Grandmother knew.
Carson Ellis creates gouache artwork that provides a sense of drama as each answer is honestly rejected by the boy for obvious to him reasons. Spare and moody, the spreads reflect the discontent he feels throughout his long search.
What is love for you, and for your children?
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