Fish Pedicure

I dip my toes in the warm tank of water Tiny doctor fish wriggle alive Trembling on swaying fins Towards my rough extremities Ichthyotherapy, care by the Garra rufa, Bred in the hot springs of central Turkey Now, in Okinawa, Japan, in Vietnam, In Singapore, Hong Kong, the British isles These tiny footservents soften the world's tread Soothing and pampering soles Miniscule mouths nibble on flakes of skin My feet immersed in water look Disembodied, white, amorphous How many patients will they treat today? They trim flesh back to health Nature's chiropodists, small, finny carers It is soothing this lapping sensation of water These gentle, tickling creatures lull me lazy I am a fee-paying buyer of Eastern podiatry I sit on a seat in the walkway of a mall Letting the fish doctors carry out their work. I watch the busy shoppers look askance They saunter, trudge or flounder with their loads Some glance with interest, others, with grimace