it isn’t their ocean slime
shimmering green in the sun,
nor the long ropiness of their floppy
tendrils that terrifies me. it isn’t
the way they’re lined with suckers
or cilia or scales. it’s not their alien
feelers, autonomously whipping wild.
no. it’s just the way they seem so
limber, so strong, yet they have no
bones for leverage
except maybe my own
