ACROSS FROM GRANDMERE’S SEAFOOD SHACK, WADING THE ROCKY SHORE

by Pamela Gemme

You spy a bioluminescent blossom,

a jellified nebulae

ancestral bell, part medusa, part umbrella,

in the sea’s cerulean ease—

moonlit muscle of her, placenta-like,

moves, stirs and puffs clouds of sand

                                she propels tendrils, assaults

you in the thigh, stuns you. she’s lethal

you dance in pain, you spiral

your thigh burns the color of sunset—

how rugged hunger fulfills her

while she haloes

swaying veiled lace

almost invisible, always famished

one sentient being

she myths into a bigger life

call her ancient

call her no bones to nourish

call her wild descent

maternal well of breath, immortal

rhythmic

  she drops,

   into polyps,

 on the deep-sea floor