Sub marine
Afternoons they'd
commandeer the cardboard
box that brought the cabinet
in the hall.
Batten the hatches!
Engines to full! Up
periscope! Trawl the
parquet floors.
A long, dangerous
mission with no promise of
return. Only thing for certain,
adventure for one and all!
Avoid enemy detection. Check.
Maintain radio-silence. Check.
Now hold her slow and steady, mate,
and mind the squeaky door.
Level off at the coral reef; staghorn,
brain, finger, fan and star, in
colourful blocks like lego
but animals are what they are.
Life here is abundant, you
can see out the pothole;
jellyfish, anemones,
morays and... Behold!
Sea turtles whose soft bellies
that 'shell' never be exposed; and
for safety from apex predators,
damsels scud in shoals.
Now navigate the kelp forest,
from sea bottom to ceiling,
through long shafts of dusty light,
rising vertical.
Rockfish, seahorse, turban
snails, inhabit each and every
frond. In a storm, sea otters come,
hold fast and hang on.
Half-buried in the carpet
grass, we spot the crusty viking
wreck. Old ikea couch of sunken
foam, sea bed it unfolds.
Now out into the open
ocean, vast plains of indigo, the
Humboldt flows, with whales en route,
where great whites do patrol.
Wait! Enough of this nature
stuff! We're here
to wage a war! Scan
the horizon all around
for adults big
or small. Woah! Was that
a depthcharge going off?
Or momma's dinner call?
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