NATURE Poem: The Magic of the Ocean, by Kathryn Douglas

The sea
It is a beautiful palace
Filled with vivid life
Bursting at the seams with hues
We humans can’t even recreate if we tried
Sparkling zebrafish squads
Nautical jewelry
Being snatched up by apex beasts
That want sparkle that is theirs
Exclusively theirs.

Waves break against the shore
Thrashing to obliterate unknown bonds
Hauling seaweed, human waste, shattered shells
Onto the messy sand
Freezing water
Jellies filled to the brim with toxins
Primed and waiting to quietly
Kill a man
Slowly from the inside out.

Surfing is full of instability
As crashing fronts
Yawning onyx mouths of liquid
And harsh winds kissing bony backs
Rip wounds into unclad skin
Hazy moors of cobalt jarring strong human forms
Into submission.

The depths full of possible horrors
But gorgeous too
Even with the deep blob sculpins
Squid
Viperfish
Lurking in the depths
Hoping for bites
Of sweet, tender flesh
To quench their covetous hunger
Jowls full of teeth

Fixed to munch on yowling victims
Stupid enough to try to flee
Fish oozing gore into the murky night
While toxins seep into their flesh.

As if illustrated by artists
The high seas are caressed by color
Pulses of it race through the water like
Disco lights
Glows from majestic majesties
Quickly pulse through the water
As they throw vapors through the air
Bursts of hue billow upwards to the clouds
Emulate axolotls due to their variety
Zephyrs like brushes across the cobalt sky.