The NS Poem: At the aquarium

The NS Poem: At the aquarium

After the bright jellyfish, snow crabs,seadragons unlovably leafy,the great Pacific octopus unfurlsher many-pearled arms.My fingers tighten in the jacket pocketwhere we secretly hold hands,the toothless stuff of romancea week old.Toothless and boneless,the placard says,she can escape a boatthrough a quarter-sized hole.I imagine the black-eyed krakenslipping a netas the fishermen pull up the knotted mesh, empty –and with one long, amorphous arm,s…