February 2021
Bio Note: I attempt to help our Veterans heal as a RN in the Seattle area. In former lives I
taught high school, practiced acupuncture, and managed aquatic centers. I try to be funny for my lovely
kids and wife, but I am mostly arthritic and cranky. My second chapbook Mr. Rogers kills fruit flies
is available from Main St Rag.
passenger
the octopus clings to the shark’s primer-grey back
and the teeth and snout root frantically up through
dendrites of kelp under urchin and anemone
through caves in the skull
but the scent pervades and maddens
numbs the eyes and when the shark slides into
a fevered sleep the prey slips off
no longer a passenger
i think of all the anger and anxiety and depression
that curls in the silt of my water and i realize—
my eight-limbed consciousness should
search out the silver selachimorpha
avoid the many-rowed daggers
carefully caress its steel skin
and ride it just long enough to vex it
stun it drown it in its own hallucination
and then disengage
watch the blind thing scrape
through a distant
vapor
©2021 Scott Ferry
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