May 2, 2016

Waking, slender curve of moon low in the east.
   
Pulled the plug on the fountain for a while. The builders want me to keep it on “24x7,” but I feel it cannot build up a proper pond biota if the water is always moving. Sat and watched it, then, and in the great calm I did see my denizens at last, Egypt and Sumer and Akkad leaping to the air with their gold scales flashing, the reddish minnows nibbling at everything on the surface, a bit of petal being nibbled by one, abandoned, then being nibbled by another and abandoned, until all the fish in the pond are satisfied it’s nothing they want to eat. Saw the turtle Minos, too, his head like a black bubble pushed up for breath between a stone and a lily pad, in what must be called an excess of caution. Drove to Weaverville and bought dried red worms, seeing that everyone wanted to feed on the surface. The guy at the pet store said, “Red worms are what I would want if I were a fish.”
   
Began a play which speculates that Antigonus was not killed by the bear.