hello you adorable jet-propelled mollusk
so I hear you are related to squids
Octopus too? Well, that’s news!
Did you know that you are the only living cephalopod?
Where do you reside?
Where can I find you?
In open water and coral reefs
In the Pacific and Indian Ocean is what I have heard
I’m coming to visit
I want to see you curl yourself into your shell
I hear it’s really something to see!
Long and winding is the trail
slickened by a slimy snail.
Through life he does wend,
wondering how it will end:
"If I might beg your pardon,
little snail in my garden -
is your day going well,
little creature in a shell?"
The mollusk replied in fright,
"I beg your pardon if I might",
said the snail whose skin was wet
with nervous beads of sweat.
"I'm God's creature just like you",
said he as he eyed the shoe,
and, "My, you're looking good,
glad you're in the neighborhood."
But those words were too late,
for the beast of sluggish gait.
It wasn't how he had wished,
his life stilled by being squished.
Strong, resilient, iridescent
Trapped in folds, they are translucent
Culture cultivate grafted right
Pearls don't sparkle they reflect light
Mollusk secretes nacre layers
Wild pearls fetch prompt giga payers
Placed right they are prettiest sight
Pearls don't sparkle they reflect light
Implant good in delicate soul
Ego, pride, hate, lust can play foul
Turn to true source to be moonlight
Pearls don't sparkle they reflect light
Kindness, faith and love are virtues
Rare, admirable true values
They attract source and return bright
Pearls don't sparkle they reflect light
Where the tide licks a sandy beach
a running ripple
thins to wash a ring of rounded pebbles -
there, a muddy ribbon
trickles through brine rinsed trinkets
surged up as a slosh of time
from the oceans depth.
Here be the bones of seahorse dragons,
and the beached and bloated
pods of marine algae,
Fractured mollusk shells splinter,
carapace and claws swell
in a mutual dross,
a trawled-up flotsam
tossed upon
low spin drifting waves.
A sculptured driftwood
expressed into mythic forms
anchors its art where the wind combs.
Sometimes coins, both new and old, surface
to be pocketed once more.
Obscure metallic treasures knuckle
and poke-mark the shoreside
with their unanswered questions.
I walk an ankle-deep dawn light
shipwrecked on my own shores edge.
A seagull's homeless cry
keeps me fishing for new depths.
Incline your ear and press it to the earth dear soul on fire
feel the moist wet clod of God's rich dirt and don't speak a word;
Listen to the sound of your own heart beat
as it thrums through Mother nature's girth
move slowly, like the mollusk does
across The Sacred Land of its birth
Life is a song unsung, if you don't have love
so sing a canticle of Glory to the heavens
and for goodness sake look up child
recall the lullabies your mother sang to you
the Heroic Anthems of your Father's story
and let your song be heard
from the mountains high !
Why do shellfish
Seem so selfish
Is it they dwell
Inside their shell
And don’t admit
But only spit
That old salt brine
After they dine
Day in and out
In their hideout
Yet near the rocks
Creation knocks
On their hard wall
But through it all
They stay inside
To safely hide
From us their foe;
How could they know?
When we dig clams
Their two doors slam
Same with mussel
That we rustle
Can't un-cloister
Hermit oyster
Or peel the husk
From the mollusk
They’re much too vain
In their domain
Or just abhor
The open door
Though we still crave
Them ‘neath the wave
And will not cease
‘Til they release
A cherished dish;
Sorry, shellfish
At lowest tide, you shimmer at my feet,
fluid glass thinly glazes my squirming toes
Pacific respite from today’s prevailing heat
The cycle of waves, on and on it goes,
a watered source of lifeforms grand and small
Your mollusk, Pisces, star, survive and thrive,
‘neath waters dark and deep with cloud and squall,
Your oceanic underworld abides
Above, below, each day these worlds collide
Horizons far delineate both spheres
On liquid current surge the wild things ride
Our lives lived out, separately but here,
entwined by water, air, the sand, the sea,
where waves will pass and creatures come to be.
I sat alone by the sea
when a snail waved to me.
She politely asked “Is this seat free?”
“Why yes,” I said, “ certainly.”
“I've traveled forth all lifelong
seeking somewhere to belong.
I've sought wide and sought long
for a place to sing my song."
We sat a while companionably
and watched the waves absently.
When I again glanced amicably,
her abandoned shell lay silently.
Holding her empty shell to my ear.
I heard her message most sincere
Sounds of the sea resounded clear –
"Thanks to you, I sing my song here!"
The sandy beach
thins into a wash of rounded pebbles
where the tide licks,
before that a muddy ribbon
trickles briny trinkets surged up
from the oceans bottom.
Here be the bones of tiny seahorse dragons,
and bloated macroscopic marine algae,
their seaweed green strands inflated
until the sun bakes
their pale upturned pods into pyrite beads.
Fractured mollusk shells splinter the broken claws
of minuscule crustaceans -
all the natural flotsam of debris trawling waves.
A sculptured driftwood expressed into mythic forms
anchors its art where the wind combs.
Sometimes coins, both new and old, surface
to be pocketed once more.
Obscure metallic treasures knuckle
and poke-mark the shoreside
with their unanswered questions.
I have no questions, walking the dawn light
I am a shipwreck, my mind roaming
along the shores edge.
My heart a seagulls cry, a wilderness call
that keeps me fishing for new depths
of a fathomless self.
I need no dog, the arrogant, annoying flea biter said.
He promptly did a summersault on his sweet head.
Well don’t look at me, said the old man flea Lee.
I am biting flesh right now, but no dog I see.
The dog gave a yelp and scratched a hole in his back.
But he was not as quick as the flea known as Yak.
Yak jumped out of the way, for he was a jumping flea.
Haha! Yak yelled with a shout. No creature got me!
Let’s go for the cat, the flea biter suggested.
They don’t taste very appealing said Sue, who had nested.
I think this is a giant, maybe a mollusk, or a squid.
It cannot be a dog; he died. His name was Kid.
Sinking into the soil of his egocentric ocean
Snarled and sniveled the cephalopod mollusk
Since to be worthy of his charming prey
Sensation beaming from his passion blasting
Suspending her from being aware of drowning
Stunning to sight her lapse into squandering
Sloshing in intense sadness and deceitfulness
Written: April: 03, 2022
Softly blows the sea breeze floating on Maine coast
Lobster rests near seashell colorful pretty
Marine life oceanography exploration for
Sea grant college young students welcoming Oceania.
Sea horse small marine fish floats near
Sea butterfly marine mollusk nestling in aquarium
Oceanarium on seashore warm seas giving a
Reflection sea conveying oceangoing voyages sea bird schooner.
Loved one touches sandy beach viewing sea holly
Blue leaves accent blue flowers together for
Couple tasting lobster thermidor weathered restaurant
Craggy wood pier constructed for people use for good feelings.
Spinnaker sails into the sun warm wind blowing
Oceanfront colors under soaring sea eagle looking
Eyes cheerful happiness rests in heart grateful
Our Creator fashioned earth with ocean life.
there once was a sad mollusk named earl
who always lived in constant peril
when someone swam too close by
and flipped sand in his eye
he was forced to make a danged pearl
Dragons with their brimstone throats
burned millions
before bursting into combustible myths.
Did we once make fire
or did the fire make us? Burning,
burning, burning
until ‘forever’ became extinct, became
smoke behind the ramparts of heaven.
More burning, torching the sub-human heart
into almost human pieces,
making our blackened ancestors,
(our little thumb-opposing howlers),
shed their burning skin,
revealing a mollusk of intellect,
a shellfish without a shell
exposing its wriggling thought
in that shedding. The burning
filled our eyes,
we saw the fire, its flinty roots,
we grubbed for those roots
made them bloom, made the flame.
Then full of a holy zeal
we made a great war upon the world.
SEAGULLS
Squalling seagulls sip the morning sunshine
Expert efficient on hunting skill
Unique distinct character superfine.
Adaptable always venturing thrill.
Expert efficient on hunting skill
They drop mollusk to hit rock breaking shell.
Adaptable always venturing thrill,
They throw bread- crumbs to attract fish as well.
They drop mollusk to hit rock breaking shell,
They transfer all techniques to the offspring
They throw bread- crumbs to attract fish as well,
follow ploughs for underground food to bring.
They transfer all techniques to the offspring
Seagulls symbolize, clarify freedom
follow ploughs for underground food to bring.
Resourceful favorable broad spectrum.
Seagulls symbolize, clarify freedom
Unique distinct character superfine
Resourceful favorable broad spectrum.
Squalling seagulls sip the morning sunshine.
12/02/19
Second Place
'Seagulls' Contest by Eve Roper.
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