Poetic License: Jellyfish Blues
“I aint got no body, aint got a spine,
Take me out of water, aint worth a dime,
But let me jellyfish float in the blue-green sea
And what an amazing creature I can suddenly be.”
What can you say about a blob like me?
I have no body, I lack a spine,
I can’t stand up or look you in the eye- I have no eyes,
I can’t cross a room and kiss you because
I can only move up and down and I have no lips.
It’s easy to see right through me and know
I must always go with the flow,
I’m gooey and slimy and wash up on beaches
Looking like a twice-used condom.
Or you can say I’m the ultimate minimalist life form,
The first on Earth to get its cell act together,
The first to feed, procreate and protect itself
Without hard feelings or lust for a body,
The first to live forever, bloom and thrive
In the rotting toilet men are making of the sea.
Look at me now in this painting:
In my jellyfish float and fetal position,
Drifting along with the current, you can see
Tentacles huddled together tightly
To protect me from the sea horse stallions
Who are always trying to mount me like Poseidon,
God of the sea in that sexist Greek mythology
That gave me the name Medusa, said my hair
Was full of snakes and I could turn men into stone
With one dirty look. But don’t be afraid.
Look now at the northeast part of me. Can you see the Indian head
Of the Buffalo Nickel? Keep looking at me, looking at me,
At gelatinous, chameleon, bioluminescent me,
I’m mostly blues and greens but tonight I will glow
Like a phosphorescent moon in the sky of the sea,
Singing my jellyfish blues to any star that will listen.
Poet: Joe Pacheco
Artist: Hollis Jeffcoat