The Water Column
The Water Column
In loathsomeness is our salvation, say
the hagfish. Safety lies in numbers, choirs
of herring sing. The strategies of prey
fish must amuse the sharks and gulls, deniers,
though, themselves, that they are prey to whales
and eagles, who comport themselves like gods,
though in the end their credo also fails
and their equivalent of Homer nods.
The rockfish, lionfish, and clownfish swim
toward their redemption from the sea as though
they shared a faith in coloration, whim,
and wit. Beneath them, lanternfishes glow
in clarity above the benthic murk,
where bottomfish and crabs and tubeworms work.
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