Some bioluminescence
“ale-brown algae / that exclusively blushed / luminescent blue” — Isabel Galleymore, ‘Luminescent‘
here, blue may also mean toxic, and means a defence
mechanism for when a predator nears—as if the many whips
attached weren’t enough already—the sudden blue of
dinoflagellates on proximity (read ‘flashes
of blue’; read ‘warning sign’) at night
creates for some an imaginary monster—
say a justified reason to maintain distance (the ocean anyway
is vast and now only growing)—
this ale-brown algae: also poisonous to some, but otherwise only dizzying
(and who cares about some dizzy fish
high on shit in a faraway water?)
and then this blueness is carried into food—
for predators, and us (read again ‘predator’; read ‘which causes bowel problems’;
read ‘causes food poisoning’)—and all of this, increasing
with pollution—water bodies as waste paper baskets—
and with climate
change—
Important neglected things
watermelon seeds—dog hair under the doormat—dead
bird in the backyard—a smallish sticky note
near the study table, reading ‘For some,
the very worst thing has happened’, as in
time pauses, as in the next bad
thing couldn’t still be worse—but is it? how
does a reference point work?
is it just there like a lazy dog is:
lying down, dozing off; like a blackbird, not knowing what
to do again and again, ‘changing its mind
about what to do next.’—are we just here like lazy
dogs?—is it even a question?—it is not recommended
that the feathers of a bird be sewn in an instance
of accident: this is to avoid infection and added weight,
and to prevent further damage; there-
fore, wildlife rehabilitators prefer ‘imp-
ing’, from Greek emphuein, which is ‘to im-
plant’ as in to add, where a feather is borrowed
from another bird—such little selfless acts of love—
this is what we forget—not an evening beer, not a
toupée on a coat hanger, not a boot
for midwinter—and tell me this:
are we sane today?—is that even a question?— it is said
questions answer questions best
Finches
Darwin
was possibly the finest of all sales-
men. Popularised diversity when the rich were still in need
of slaves. Finches—his evolutionary poster child:
‘abundant’, ‘small’, with ‘short lifespans’ and large
beak ‘variations’—ideal for long-term field studies.
Spoke a lot without having to, implied
the finches ‘evolved divergently (in a divergent
manner)’ because to survive one must
prioritise, reorganise, segregate and/or dissociate—that
competition is unhealthy for both the predator and the prey.
Notes: ‘Important neglected things’ borrows ‘For some, / the very worst thing has happened’ from Jessica Traynor’s ‘Ophelia in Ballybough’ (Verseville); ‘changing its mind / about what to do next’ is borrowed from Hugo Williams’s ‘Birdwatching’ (The Poetry Society, 2016).