In deep darkness, cunning lights are softly luring prey,
Drawing closer to the glow, only some will flee …
Subtle bodies, clear as glass, with organs on display,
Exquisite dances only certain piercing eyes can see.
Worm-like creatures undulate, jaws hang wide and gaping,
Iridescent, jeweled young ‘tween lurking hunters skitter.
The deadly art of eating faces that of death escaping,
From afar, a dazzling show, a many-legged glitter.
Armored, silver-plated, soft as jello, far from shore,
Seeking wonder, terror, treasure, out here I will be.
Stranger than the strangest film on aliens at war:
The scintillating, gorgeous sight of plankton in the sea.
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Further reading:
UNOLS Chief Scientist Training Cruise, “See Monsters Here”
UNOLS Chief Scientist Training Cruise, “Microscopic Zoo”
This poem was inspired by time spent on a UNOLS Chief Scientist Training Cruise (Barbados to Bermuda, June 2014).
This is one in a series of poems written by Katherine Allen, a researcher in geochemistry and paleoclimate at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
