The Realm of Kelp and Algae

 

I think a lot about the way

that kelp and algae sway,

and how the currents do caress 

their leaves with tenderness.

The ever-moving tides do seem

to be a whirling dream.

Their undertows are sometimes warm,

much like a summer storm,

at other times a chilly breeze,

but never ever cease

to play with blade, bladder, and stem,

touching and teasing them.

The moon's own choreography

is paramount for the

infinite dance of ebb and flow

that can be mild and slow

or fast, exuberant, and wild

when waters will be riled,

becoming dull and gray in hue,

and holdfasts cling onto 

the rocks down at the ocean floor, 

the crust of earth's hot core,

with fingers that are small but strong,

and know where they belong,

among those drifting, shifting things:

the fish with silver wings;

 

the beautiful anemones,

abundant as the sea's

manifold urchins, stars, and snails,

the speckled seals, the whales,

the little prawns that feed and thrive, 

happy to be alive

in forests made of slender stalks,

where graceful crabs take walks,

while far above the teeming deep,

some furry creatures sleep,

up on the surface in the blaze

of the sun's noonday rays,

yes, furry creatures can be seen

there, resting in between

the bull kelp's bobbing bubble heads.

the rippling waves for beds,

and here, they spend their years afloat

just like a little boat

that dropped its anchor down into 

the undulating blue,

which will plunge deep and come to lie

next to some octopi

who, newly hatched, love to explore -

likely they never see the shore

where I do stand imagining

the wonders that are happening

below the surface of the sea

in the realm of kelp and algae.

 

Copyright: Silke Stein, 2023