Welcome to Poetry Friday, today hosted by poet and artist Robyn Hood Black HERE. Thank you for hosting, Robyn!
First I would like to show off an empowering post card and poem that I received from Mary Lee Hahn today with a poem. (Jone McCullough had arranged this year a 2024 swap of New Year’s postcards. Thanks, Jone! )
On the card is a message we all need to be reminded of.
Summon up bravery . . .
dismantle hesitation . . .
BEGIN!
(you've got this)
Mary Lee Hahn 2024
Thank you, Mary Lee!
____________
A book I’d like to share is one I received for Christmas. THE SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS, is a 2015 national book award finalist, by naturalist Sy Montgomery.:
I admit I have not found the octopus a creature that inspired in me affection. I found them frightening. As fear often arrises from lack of knowledge, the way to dispel fears about an animal, such as the octopus, is to learn more. (The first thing I learned was “octopi” as the plural for octopus is incorrect. It is “octopuses”)
Sy Montgomery got to know these creatures intimately. At the New England Aquarium in Boston, her first meeting involved touching one named Athena, offering her arm for Athena to explore and “taste” with their suckers. Sounded questionable at first but I read on. I’m sure Sy Montgomery had to “summon up bravery” to get up close and personal with this interesting and unusual living thing.
I knew that octopuses were smart, but I didn’t know how smart. They remember humans they meet and learn to trust. They are not violent unless threatened or subduing a fish or clam for dinner. The author truly fell in love with the octopuses she got to know at the aquarium and her affection I felt throughout the book. The attachment the author, and all the staff at the aquarium developed with Athena and others felt was no less than love.
This week I watched the documentary on Netflix, MY OCTOPUS TEACHER, which turned out to be another wonderful love story between a diver and an octopus he visited everyday for almost a year. Well, I might as well say that after reading this book and watching the documentary, I fell in love, too. Exaggerating a little, I wrote this:
MY LOVE LIVES IN AN AQUARIUM
No need to protest,
please do not fuss,
I'd like to marry
my sweet octopus.
Her skin is a light show
she flashes at whim
reds, browns and stripes
from head to her limbs.
She’s smooth when I pet her,
not monstrous or hairy.
Cephalopod mollusks
aren’t actually scary.
Afraid she will ink you?
Devour your finger?
If you cannot be gentle
be gone! Do not linger!
Hundreds of suction cups
trail up her arms.
All the better to taste you—
it’s one of her charms.
I’d chase my love anywhere
like I did once before
when she crawled from her tank
and slid under the door.
Oh, what is better I say
than a hug with eight arms?
to hold and protect you
from undersea harm.
No need to protest
no need to fuss;
I think I will marry
my sweet octopus.
© Janice Scully 2024
When I was a child, I declared at one night the dinner table, “I love peas!” My father asked me, “Would you marry them?” At the time I found this hilarious and what came to mind writing this poem. Of course, you marry what or who you love.
Here is a public domain photo of an octopus showing off its ability to blend in. With no shell to protect it, the octopus depends on color change, shape shifting, and squeezing into small spaces among other talents, to protect itself.
Thank you Robyn for hosting. Have a great weekend!