IN PRAISE OF THE JELLYFISH 
 
Let us celebrate 
the siphonophore, with its tiny 
gas-filled float atop 
a cluster of swimming bells 
forming a column 
like blossoms of foxglove; 
 
the by-the-wind sailor, 
a bright blue disk gliding 
on the sea’s surface, 
its single triangular sail held 
high to capture the breeze; 
 
the cannonball jelly 
whose pure white rigid bowl 
could be a pulsing 
death cap mushroom. 
 
Let us admire 
the flower hat jelly 
with green velvet stripes, 
purple-pink buds 
and tentacles like curly pasta; 
 
the bottom-dwelling jelly-- 
an exquisite pastry with fluffy, 
whipped-cream gonads 
surrounding a strawberry mouth 
resting on custard; 
 
the egg-yolk jelly, 
its long tentacles swaying 
around sticky orange 
oral arms, its polyps stacked 
on the ocean floor--small, 
transparent sunflowers. 
 
Let us gasp in rapture at 
the ctenophore with delicate lobes 
that flap to fly through water 
and the one with rows 
of combs that refract light, 
giving off rainbows 
as they beat in unison; 
 
the sea gooseberry, 
spinning in bunches-- 
spherical glass ornaments 
on invisible trees, each 
trailing two fringed 
tentacles with gluey tips; 
 
the moon jelly, a celestial 
body that dropped 
into the sea, contracting 
its shining umbrella to propel 
itself through the waves. 
 
Let us be dazzled 
by beauty and danger-- 
creatures all crystal and silk-- 
clueless as tulips, 
drifting along like 
our unconscious selves. 
 
First published in Carquinez Poetry Review. 

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© Copyright 2007, Lucille Lang Day.
All Rights Reserved.