Best Cephalopod Poems
The roll of the waves hides the arcs of their backs.
The shoal of porpoises are feeding on squid.
Feasting amongst them on cephalopod snacks
Are green-scaled dragons that choose to be hid.
They hide from whalers and their brutal harpoons,
While they stay in the ocean for most of life's times,
Except times when they roam the nearby sand dunes
To covet Marsh Radishes and the wild limes.
These dragons don't fly, since they're aquatic sorts.
Like Nessie in Scotland, they wish to be free.
Some people catch a glimpse, and some hear a snort,
But rarely, since mostly they're way out to sea.
Categories:
cephalopod, fantasy, ocean,
Form:
Rhyme
there’s a temporal aberration
happening in my head
or it could be I am dreaming
or maybe I am dead
there’s a small purple t rex
who is wearing a bowler hat
while on his massive back legs
he’s sporting yellow spats
he’s dancing a foxtrot
summoning me with a wave
to join him in his frolic
but I just aren’t that brave
there’s an orchestra playing
composed of flying fish
under a banner stating that
we play anything you wish
the dance floor is crowded
I’ve just seen an antelope
with a sign on his back
all ye abandon hope
I am swimming in confusion
next to a cephalopod
all in all this situation
is somewhat rather odd
but I think I’ll just enjoy it
I may wake up by and by
or maybe this is just
a pleasant way to die
Categories:
cephalopod, adventure, dream, fantasy,
Form:
Rhyme
In hushed whispers, Mariners told stories,
Of a octopus like cephalopod creature;
With a tentacled beak and jet thrust power,
A creature as long as a school bus.
Scientists dismissed all this as just myth,
But they did admit that there may be;
Giant creatures roaming the dark, deep oceans,
However in 2007 one was netted.
The New Zealand trawler San Aspiring,
Fishing in the Ross Sea of Antarctica;
Netted something, 34 feet long, 1000 pounds,
A giant monster, it was a colossal squid.
But more amazing was that this female,
Was considered a comparative midget;
Colossal Squids can grown to 46 feet long,
They are the largest creatures on Earth.
Having the biggest eyes of any other animal,
The size of basketballs with huge pupils;
Also, it is said that they are highly aggressive,
Even attacking predators like Sperm Whales.
Gouges and battle scars on whales, unexplained,
The gigantic female, in a lab somewhere, frozen.
______________________
August 21, 2015
Verse
For the contest, Giant Animals
Honorable Mention
Categories:
cephalopod, animal, ocean, science,
Form:
Verse
my agent grew nervous
when he discovered
like the rising sun
on a sea of shark fins
that one must gauge and become the gauge
what is it that heralds an improved model
claiming to have superior knowledge
my hospital masturbates immobilized patients
the cure rate is astounding
it’s all in how we conceive ourselves
the oil and tincture panaceas
were giving me intestinal upheaval
but my inner cephalopod still had
a couple of pots of ink in him
and swore by his mother's nipples
when info comes a-knocking
best let it find a seat unaided by grief
everyone rigs the game
we are all defiled by propaganda
here let me wipe you off
we all want to be authentic
so gimme the straight story for once
the sigh of the wind for once
must have been the stoning squad's day off
tarred and feathered instead
the world may not owe us a living
but it does owe us an explanation
I think it all has to do with
branching cascades and nested infinities
is it rain on the roof or radio static
I'm pretty sure it's a comedy show
there's a lady in the front row
bearing her breasts at me
I am quickly hypnotized
turns out she’s KGB
I hope I'm the lucky stud
that gets to climb her stairway
in an experimental courtship ritual
we rubbed pudenda for an hour
before I heard her secret name
it's still secret
her guillotine blade warm and wet
cut through me like a 3 dollar car wash
through fresh dung
OK why 3
for you double meaning compulsives
I'll tell you
but you must obey my commands
they are buried throughout this message
because 3 is like the fingernail relics of saints
and he'd rather be thundering back at Zeus
which got him everything he wanted
not so much money clothes cars women
since he didn't set out to establish
an empire of invisible influence
but he was a free man
free to disintegrate periodically
my advice is to keep
something for yourself no matter what
From "Engine of Didactic Beauty" available on Amazon
Artist Portfolio: http://walteralter.byethost32.com/
Categories:
cephalopod, how i feel,
Form:
Free verse
Laura* plans to buy a big house
Tosses my wallet eats a louse
Ohhohh my honey
You have no money
A cephalopod needs no spouse
*My squid wife
Categories:
cephalopod, fun,
Form:
Limerick
On a dive to wreck of good ship "Soul"
I noticed a door locked tight.
Over I swam to peer inside a keyhole
Expecting it be blocked up tight.
In shock I pulled eye back in awe.
For I saw an eye in hole
Staring right back at me through door
Eye to eye, delving within, soul to soul.
I looked again; alien eye had move well away.
As I stared the eye returned
On head of blue-ringed octopus it lay.
A human eye on Cephalopod head adorned.
The shock recalled a memory long lost
Of a lover's deeply piercing eyes
Always there poised to engage, accost
With suckered arms through keyhole poised for pries.
Categories:
cephalopod, adventure, symbolism,
Form:
Ballad
PSYCHEDELIC SUNSHINE
psychedelic sunshine,
with cephalopod rays,
stretches upward
to the blue-eyed heavens.
commander of sea and skies -
the waistline of the bittersweet sun -
under the tendril waves.
sweet suckers stamp stars,
visible in twilight hours,
kissed and sent to bed until then.
effervescent overtones,
bubble and foam,
with toy ships that sail
with mighty magnitude,
limited by the mercy of the sea.
a savage, boiling beast.
tis crossed precariously.
cephalopod rays, can plunge
suddenly, into the ocean depths.
clouds scurry to lambaste
the sailors, without warning.
enjoy the euphoric waters,
but don’t be fooled
by their siren daughters.
9/15/2017
Mid-September Premier contest
Categories:
cephalopod, sea, sun,
Form:
Free verse
Tiny Argonaut
Nurturing her eggs
In the paper thin
Shell
Formed by womb-fluids…
You carry your children
Bear the father of them
To worlds unknown to my kind…
Tentacled cephalopod
Ancient octane ancestor
You remain a mystery to me…
I am so glad
You grace my sea.
Categories:
cephalopod, ocean, poetry, sea,
Form:
Prose
Many things could kill you.
Car wrecks, fall from a roof, electrocution,
starvation, heart attack, brain cancer, Alzheimer’s.
I shall choose something fun to kill me.
Walking the plank, shoot out at the OK corral,
boomerang rebound, King Kong, a cephalopod attack
I dream of watching a giant squid pull me away
With his enormous suction cups,
his tentacles and giant arms making the victory sign.
It is a memorable death, making a terrific obituary story.
Categories:
cephalopod, me,
Form:
Free verse
Dear humans,
I am an octopus and I’m unhappy with how you humans think you’re so great.
You might say I have a bone to pick with you…
which would be true if I weren’t an invertebrate.
I want you to know I am more than just a cephalopod
with 8 tentacles who spits out a little ink
for I too have a brain, in fact with nine of them…
and I am much smarter than you think
I have learned to use different tools and I solve problems too
and what if all those times you think you’re watching me…
I’ve been watching you.
You humans think with your one heart you’re as loving as can be…
Well think again mere humans…for every octopus has three.
So the next time you’re feeling superior…
the next time you think that you’re so great
remember…most animals in the world live in the ocean…
and most, like me, are invertebrates.
Please do not lament these facts…
do not become a sourpuss…
I’m sure you have some good qualities too…
Sincerely,
The Octopus
P. S. I know you’re proud of your ability to write…
and to be fair I think that’s great
but in the time it takes you to write one letter…
I’ve already written eight!
Categories:
cephalopod, humor, nature, ocean,
Form:
Rhyme
Lunar swimming in angry cerulean torrents
swiftly as primeval passing of blue equinox
sea-born of indomitable nautical command
to envelop cloaked within mother the ocean
Remembering in-utero wild amniotic hunger
I dive deep submerged inside Poseidon's lair
Senses burning alive tribal inebriated oxygen
embryonic aquatic kingdom, vibrancy revealed
Strong, steady, maritime language fathered
techniques of stout heartedness hold strong & fast
as I scan deep the watery sapphire horizon
multitudes of planktonic organisms weave dancing
The harrowing, drowning sailors sinking titanic ship's
watery struggles plunging to Davey Jones locker
obeisance to the kingdom the fisherman warned
no safety or surprise for the iconoclastic swimmer
Submarine amygdala hijack tsunami unfolding
losing myself to wave patterns monstrous in my brain
luminescent molecules reverberate to my touch
Gliding through hidden cephalopod realms
Spiralling up microscopic kelp-laden kingdoms
I rise to kiss the air with salt-water gasping
This holiest oceanic communion does heal
all my riptide scars, delivered within lands prison
Categories:
cephalopod, beauty, devotion, environment, visionary,
Form:
Romanticism
Pity the Poor Octopus
The octopus is a curious creature
With eight long tentacles his most outstanding feature.
But because of his oddly shaped cephalopod bod,
He's not one of those who looks stylish in clothes,
For his head's much too big to put a hat upon.
And like the squid and the manta,
He could never play Santa,
'cause he has no lap to be sat upon.
Christmas Q and A:
Q: What's a favorite Christmas holiday entertainment for many domineering women?
A: "The Nutcracker"
Q: Why is it better to give at Christmas than to receive?
A: it might be tax deductible.
Q: What would the Sugar Plum one be if she had a bad case of hypertrichosis?
A: A very hairy fairy.
Merry Christmas Poetry Soup!
Categories:
cephalopod, christmas,
Form:
Other
You may consider it extremely odd
I’m so easily influenced by a cephalopod
Eight arms, three hearts, blue blood, nine brains
All unique, yet something else remains
The most important fact on which to think?
Cephalopods, like poets, possess special ink
Oh Octopi
Oh Octopi up in the sky
I wonder why you are so high
Don’t mean to pry but please reply
I have to try to reason why
Why are you shy? Why can you fly?
Please tell me why and do not lie
We're Octopi. On us you spy?
Imply we're shy? Imply we lie?
Don't wonder why we’re in the sky
Do not defy and do not pry
Do not decry — That’s our reply
Quickly comply! We do not lie
Oh my, oh my, I'll never pry
I'll not decry nor you defy
I will comply, on me rely
Oh, Octopi up in the sky
You do not lie! So high you fly!
To you I bid adieu — Bye-bye!
Categories:
cephalopod, flying, imagination, metaphor, simile,
Form:
Rhyme
Strokes of green and yellow,
Come out just to say hello.
Ballet in the sand;
Look at the position of his hand.
Bold and Brash;
This dancing is trash.
His routine came to a close;
Look at his position, he is frozen.
Categories:
cephalopod, beach, cousin, emotions, fashion,
Form:
Quatrain
To the ancient Norse he was Kraken
With a mean inclination,
And the Greeks called him Gorgon
With the same reputation.
But as monster of myths
He's been wrongly miscast,
So I'm here to shed new light
On this poor creature, at last.
An exemplary example
Of his cephalopod race,
With a blob of a body,
The merest trace of a face.
He has eight arms, or legs,
But no fingers or toes,
No waistline or shoulders,
No eyebrows or nose.
He can fly through the water
With the greatest of ease,
And accomplishes it sans
Catapult or trapeze.
When danger confronts him,
He's off in a blink,
And disappears in a cloud
Of stinky black ink.
Octobabies leave home
When the mother gives birth
To be part of the food chain,
Which is no cause for mirth.
Octodads show affection
With indifferent tugs,
But at mealtime they can be
Overly generous with hugs.
The octopus likes his comfort
And prefers to make his home
In more exotically aquatic locales.
It's not unheard of for some,
Who want to see more of the world,
To drift away from their natural venue,
Only sadly to get caught in a fisherman's net
And end up on a sushi bar menu.
At Christmas he's resigned
To passing out gifts,
Though as helper elf his head's too big
To put a hat upon.
And like the squid and the manta,
He can never play Santa
'cause he has no lap
To be sat upon.
Categories:
cephalopod, humor,
Form:
Light Verse