Song of the Jellyfish
for Jim Toia

“They called aloud, ‘Our Sieve ain’t big,
But we don’t care a button! we don’t care a fig!
In a Sieve we’ll go to sea!’”
                        —Edward Lear’s “The Jumblies”

If I’m sap in a bladder or a
bubbling rain cap, or a frisked canopy,
I gargle through the deep in a superior sieve.
And I don’t care a fig who goes extinct.
I’m not evolving anymore.

The shark is a perfect instrument,
a muscle of the fabulous,
gliding teeth, eyes flat as a psychopath’s.
Why should he change? And why should I?
I’m not evolving anymore.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to stop before
the brain stem develops, don’t you think?
Sometimes it’s a bad idea
to run like gravy onto shore.
Why not let the tide decide for us both?

That’s preferable to herding around a brain
that’s not on your side
and tears your nerves to smoke.
Whatever happens to the sea I squeeze,
I’m not evolving anymore.

I bear myself. I cope.
The world can end, and I’ll fend for myself.
What do I care about what they do next door?
Be human, as if I care.
I’m not evolving anymore.

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Copyright © 2013 Lee Upton All rights reserved
from River Styx
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission