Why don’t you leave me alone!
I’m just a crevice-dweller
Solitudinarian.
I can escape you eight ways
Rippling body colors
Prestidigitarian.
Always solving food problems
Drilling shells, unscrewing caps
Valedictorian.
No bones, no shell, fearing men,
We’re caught for dinner, used as chum
Valetudinarian.
Tolerate me. Use your brain–
Eighty-six billion neurons–
Latitudinarian.
Squishy, superflexible
or clingy, suction-cuppy,
I’ll swim, be unflappable
Breathe in, Whoosh! Breathe out, Bubbly…
