The Wondrous Wonderpus
by Catherine Flynn
Secretive wonderpus,
elusive and shy,
Lurks in the half-light at day’s edge.
Arrayed with cinnamon and white stripes,
she is a ripple of color
hiding in ripples of sand.
One minute her boneless arms
are sleek and serpentine as she races
along the sea bed, searching
for a meal of shrimp or crab.
Then she slows with a swish and a swirl,
tentacles fluttering like ribbons
in a tropical breeze and
transforms into a sea star.
Protected by her supple
body, she disappears
arm by pliant arm, into
her sandy burrow to sleep.
Secretive wonderpus,
elusive and shy.
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A wondrous poem, isn't it? I love ripple and ripples, swish and swirl, those ribbons... this poem would turn anyone into an octopus-lover! Thank you, Catherine. xo
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| By Jenny (JennyHuang) from Taipei (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Wonderpus! Very cool, Catherine. You really give a sense of movement and concealment in your poem.
ReplyDeleteThe octopus, this time 'wonderpus' do seem secretive and shy, love this, Catherine, the "sleek and serpentine" mystery of the sea floor.
ReplyDeleteThank you again, Irene! This was fun to research and write. Can't believe #OctopusMonth is almost over!
ReplyDelete