Midnight Ocean

Cherry

By onemorething

Tue, 24 Nov 2020
  • 1107 reads
9 comments
 

Light is remote in the bathyal zone,

the refuge of ghosts, here, 

a glass octopus can be invisible;

inclined to hide even their shadow.

The vulnerable have never lived

for very long - a life is compressed,

and fraught enough for three hearts

to beat their coppered blood

in sensuous motion

across a midnight ocean.

And while the sea dreams,

a cephalopod's memory is short -

oversensitive to the burden 

of the moment, the music of touch,

the muscular wholeness of a body

of sensation, the work

to be inconspicuous, to find

safety in insignificance, and yet,

to also learn the solitude of the unseen. 
 

 

Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vitreledonella_richardi.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Also on Twitter: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_from_The_Great_Barrier_Reef_of_Australia_(1893)_by_William_Saville-Kent_from_rawpixel%27s_own_original_publication_00014.jpg

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Napoli-museomosaico2.jpg

 

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Comments

Submitted by marandina on

"A glass octopus" - unique imagery all over again :)

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you, glad you liked it. Glass octopuses are really interesting. We don't know that much about them as being almost completely transparent for one thing makes that difficult. You can only really see their suckers and a few parts of internal anatomy so they hold themselves in a particular way in order to prevent those visible parts from casting any shadow. They are perfectly adapted for the midnight zone of the ocean. I find all octopuses fascinating anyway, it seems a shame that such intelligent creatures don't live very long, but I read that this is because it is their most successful form of survival as whilst they hunt, they are also hunted so the cycle of life is best lived squashed (birth, development, reproduction)  into a couple of years. That's probably more than you wanted to know glass octopuses, but as you commented, you have become a victim of circumstance! Thanks for reading it. :)

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Rachel,

you describe a ghostly alien world of mystery. A creature that has adapted to its enviroment through the art of camourflage, which makes it very surprising to me that they don't live long and are easily hunted. 

I'm glad you gave a commentary of your poem, it was very enlightening.

Jenny. 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Hi Jenny, the deeper parts of the ocean are full of mystery. And yes, it seems counterintuitive for an octopus to have a short life and the predation theory based in natural selection is just one theory. I can't remember the others. Thank you for reading my ghostly octopus poem. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by marandina on

To be honest, I thought you were being descriptive as opposed to Glass Octupii being a species. What do I know?!

Agreed, I enjoyed the reply as well :)

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Ha. Oh, sorry. That's my fault for being a little obscure, glass octopuses are indeed a species rather than a clever image conjured by me! :) 

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

I'm fascinated by octopuses too, and I was gutted when I learned how short their lives are.  They're so brilliantly intelligent, and in a way that's totally alien to us.  They do appear to have a sense of humour, though, so perhaps there are points of contact!

Beautiful poem.

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks airyfairy. I love their alien cleverness and yes, it's very sad about their life span. I bought a great book that you might like a while ago called Other Minds - The Evolution of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith, you may have read it though, I can recommend it. Thanks for reading and the cherries. :)

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

I haven't read that - I'll definitely look out for it!