My tail was longer than my hindlegs not so long ago. I remember the Flood several Ice Ages being covered with fur chalk beds trilobites giant ferns a scaly monstrosity crawling out of the sea croaking a great surprise awaits you
Will I too grow fins? feelers? an elephant’s trunk? Cheerful to this hour, afloat in my private ocean, I plan to make a grand entrance,
howling in molten dialect, Even the sea’s spooky depths shall not alarm me for I am already sunk! The life of darting shadows, the deceptive surface of the world—I shall see right through to the seaweedy bottom. I will not be fooled!
The body’s hinges itch. Gill slits ventilated my neck until yesterday. A newfangled monster, now what will I breathe?
green lipped mussels horseshoe crabs coral and snails waterworms
all sing of unalloyed joy and reciprocated lust— proof of progress, proof that evolution is not just erosion, proof chiseled from limestone quarries of womanly virtue (ageless patience, the warp and woof of heredity’s tireless loom), proof we do not really die when our brief terms expire
My pink lungs are mutated swim bladders of fish. A solitary wasp of consciousness buzzes in my head while below, the usual two room shack, a bi-chambered heart is constructed.
Someday I will have a scarlet hat and a ring, perfect pitch, a longing to be admonished. Torn from the shores of immortality I’m due to wash into the world soon, wearing the face of a retired opera singer mid-aria, famished and squalling. I’m a festival of cells. My blood’s as rich as Christmas punch. Was I a horse thief in another life? A blasphemous priest? What were my crimes? What have I done to deserve to be bottled up thus? |