Siren and Cephalopod
After reading Philip Larkin’s Mythical Introduction
Biophysical soul 15% of my brain
an aria spray caresses
the vessel's blouse
bosom suffused with song
swelling, taut and drenched
propelling the mast
impelling ship and sailor
toward the ravishing bird
her succulent word:
come hither, seaman,
bowsprit and spar
to a tender haven
kiss the salty hair
of a windblown raven
rhythmic chords guide
to a craggy strand
the swaying cords lure
to a hidden shoal
a perilous harbor
a hydraulic troll
a tentacled womb
cloaked in seabed sand
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a wanting depth-sound
the betrayal of man
the desperate prayers
the rope-torn hands
the fragmented hull
the shipwrecked seafarer
shivers in cephalopod lair
the predatory mollusk's
testicular hood
intelligent leer
eight-armed cervix
and parrot-like beak
a ravenous thrust
a singular shriek
ribbons of arterial blood
wrap the sirenopus feast
roll in the hymenal ocean
lap the shoreline's rosy crust
and sea dog's shredded husk
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the desiccated severed skull
has for years been mounted
near the brackish inlet
it still appears surprised
at first love, transfixed
with a maiden's wide eyes