from the quartz synthesized in its body.
When danger approaches, strobe lights
bounce from one side of its crimson mantle
to the other, like a disco ball. Don't
eat me, it seems to say— not in the middle
of my party, and you're not invited. Perhaps
this is another way to live one more day—
to stun with the unexpected, startle instead
of cower and hide. Sometimes the chain of tiny
adrenaline synapses fires up inside us,
so that we step forward instead of back
even when we're frightened. Performance
and technique, but also timing. In front
of such astonishment, the chance for reprieve,
even applause, in a dark ocean full of teeth.
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
