because of a breach in the dam that was meant to keep them
in. That was the idea, at least. Keeping

is always the idea. Also, stockpiling.
As the stockpiled coal ash is swept from its basins

at the Duke Energy plant near Wilmington,
fish start feeding on it by puncturing

the surface of the river from below.
Pinching the surface like a tissue and pulling down

on morsels of coal ash containing the arsenic
and boron, mercury and lead that are left

after coal is burned. The ash looks edible,