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!
Janice, this is a delightful poem! I love how it captures a child’s voice and the feel of a child’s imagination. January is a bit rough for me. This happy, fun poem brings my mood right up. I also watched, ‘My Octopus Teacher.’ And, I loved learning about how smart and affectionate these creatures are. It’s really true, what my college professor said, the older I get, the more I realize I have to learn!
Octopuses are fascinating creatures!
I can remember being told as a child something similar to what your dad said to you. How fun to take that comment as the basis for your poem!
I love how you’ve turned fear into affection with the help of a little knowledge. The facts woven in make this educational as well as fun!
I love Sy Montgomery’s book and several others she’s written, too, Janice. What a sweet and fulfilling post to read of your ‘change of heart’ about octopuses! In one place here where there are small aquariums, one octopus delighted us all in the fairly consistent news of her escaping! They are smart! And I love the lively love song you’ve written for these intriguing creatures: big focus on “one of her charms”. I’ll be sure to watch the video!
Janice: I love to read good nature books, so I’m glad for this recommendation. Octopuses (thanks for that lesson) would not naturally be my favorites, but I respect them, and more so now that I’ve read your post. Great humor in your poem!
Love your poem, Janice, especially:
Oh, what is better I say
than a hug with eight arms?
to hold and protect you
from undersea harm.
I became intrigued with octopuses after watching the Netflix program, so the book sounds like one I’d enjoy.
Wonderful Janice, this fun poem is a great one for science day in schools. Kids [ & teachers & parent volunteers should learn in a fun way as you say that:}
“”She’s smooth when I pet her,
not monstrous or hairy.
Cephalopod mollusks
aren’t actually scary.” c.KE
Two additional go-with ocotpus-positive books you may also love, as I too loved this non-fiction by Sy M., which celebrate this magnificent brainy creature are:
Irenelatham’s LOVE, AGNES
Shelby Van Pelt’s REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES
I believe with enough attention the hunting of them for food will lessen & someday be abhorrent, as we know it’s wrong/ illegal to eat porpoise & manatees. You’ve created a great post, toward that. Brava.
Thanks, Jan. Yes, find something else on the menu.
You have reminded me that I want to read more about Octopuses (now I know!). And I got to start with eight delightful stanzas of your poem, plus get some direction for more. Thank you!
Janice, I think your whimsical poem rings with surprise, great word choice, and rhyme to make anyone smile. It also has a wonderful memory of your father’s question to you. Stay warm this weekend. We had two storms this week which is most unusual for Virginia. The snow had me thinking of my own memories of Syracuse in winter.
I learned a lot about octopuses when Irene’s book came out, Love, Agnes. But, like you, I’ve never had much of a fondness. I love how you worked in a memory from your childhood to create the poem. It makes it resonate more knowing this. Thanks for sharing and inspiring.
Thanks, Margaret. I need to read Irene’s book.
Great poem, Janice – joyful and very child friendly. You might enjoy reading the novel Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt that showcases the intelligent octopus in a wonderful story.
I love your dad’s question, and how it showed up again so many years later in your poem! I loved Sy Montgomery’s HOW TO BE A GOOD CREATURE: A MEMOIR IN THIRTEEN ANIMALS (since we all seem to be adding to your TBR stack!)
A friend just told me about that book. Now I have that on my list along with “Love, Irene.”
Janice, your poem is so funny. I like the memory of your dad saying, “Are you going to marry them?” I remember that joke from my childhood too. I’m so glad you fell more in love with octopuses after your study. Would that we all learned more about our world–more love would mean more care for it. As Jan mentioned, I too thought of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt you might want to add to your to-be-read list.
Love your octopus poem! I also love Soul of an Octopus. Truly one of my favorite science NF books of all time. Sy is a wonder!
Sy Montgomery’s book has been on my TBR read for a while–thanks for reminding me to look for it again. And wasn’t “My Octopus Teacher” a marvel?! Your poem is such fun–reminds me a bit of the narrator in Remarkably Bright Creatures.
How fun that you fell in love with this creature, Janice. I love to spot octopuses when we scuba dive. But I don’t think I’d be brave enough to touch one. Though, as a prank, my husband and a dive master once snuck a little one inside the pocket of my bouyancy device on a dive with sting rays. And I could not understand why these rays were swarming me!
I love the child-like declaration that you will marry your octopus.
So fun to fall in love with something new!
Wonderful post, Janice – thanks. I was hoping you’d seen “My Octopus Teacher” – watched a couple of years ago with some of our family, and we all found it very moving.
Your octopus poem with its circular ending, its use of specific octopus related language and rhyming pattern really hits the mark, Janice. It is further infused with gentle humour. All up, a delightful piece of poetry!