A video journey through a coral reef featuring moray eels and stingrays. Music by Gary Woster and spoken word poem by Larry Simpson:
SNORKEL
Breathe in---Breathe out
through the tube that connects you
to the other world,
your world.
Salt water envelopes you.
You flap flippers
in the shimmering firmament
below the surface.
The ocean holds you
dispassionately,
like a childs toy
to be discarded.
Clown fish surround you
then flee in an instant.
Angels beckon you
into this strange heaven.
Butterflies scatter
like swirling mirages.
Only coral fingers
point steadily homeward,
back to where the bubbles go.
Breathe in---Breathe out.
Red and purple sea fans,
orange sponges,
yellow brain coral,
the colors
dazzle your eyes in the rippled light,
a billion coincidences
of self replication.
Here randomness and organization
blends into wild beauty
not designed for the human eye.
Yet you are here,
a voyager and voyeur.
You inhale enough wonder
to negate that human impulse
to become an agent of chaos,
the careless destroyer.
Breathe in---Breathe out.
Among the festive hues, camouflaged fish
and crabs and mollusks lurk
awaiting advantage, avoiding threat,
in the accumulated deposits of carbonate.
A dull blue parrot fish nibbles
at the reef, foraging for algae.
The maze of coral is both metropolis
and forest, an invertebrate and algal
symbiosis.
It is both garden and battlefield.
Various species of coral
compete in an incremental struggle
for precious real estate.
Polyps graze on plankton,
each with its circle of stinging tongues,
a palate of poison.
So many things that sting:
the statuesque coral,
the passive jelly fish with dangling tendrils,
the sea anenome,
flowers of the deep.
Venom seems the most basic defense
against complex uncertainty.
Breathe in---breathe out.
Gaping mouth, quick teeth,
a moray eel waits
in a shadowy crotch of coral,
waits like a sniper with a cocked rifle
for the blue window of water
to turn dark.
Its tongue is as pink
as the finger of a child.
It smells food,
feels the riffles of passing fish.
There are electrical pulses
in the water, ions, tastes,
signals sent and received
by simple sentience.
A silver sword with eyes and teeth,
a barracuda studies your alien shape,
your strange movements
trying to discern vulnerability.
Its brain performs algorithms,
weighing risk and hunger.
It moves away deliberately, confidently,
searching for certain opportunity.
Breathe in---breathe out.
Hold your breath and dive
to the bottom.
You feel the pressure in your ears,
taste the salt seeping into your mouth.
Here crustaceans scurry and creep.
They harvest detritus
that drifts like snow.
A sting ray erupts
from its hiding place in the sand.
It swims like a banner in a wind.
It circles and nudges you
with its body,
soft as the nose of a dog.
Perhaps it shares your curiosity
and fear or whatever passes
for feeling in the language of fish.
The sting ray moves into the blue
distance, satisfied to have touched
a creature from above.
Now you rise to the surface
to spew the water from your snorkel
and float in the duel worlds
of water and air.
The sky and sea encircle you.
You are as significant
as a broken piece of kelp.
Breathe in.......
C. 2002, Larry Simpson
http://larrycsimpson.googlepages.com/
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Glass Canoe by Iguana Houseby LarryCSimpson534 views
Check out our newest, Wowsville. Not as creepy but fun.
Larry
LarryCSimpson 2 years ago
Whoa.....this would rule for a Horror show! The music,theme and voice is some creepy stuff!!
Boneslinger88 2 years ago