By Cypress Wilde
Their appendages stretched out in front of me, white and prickly. It is getting much, much warmer here in the Florida Keys, and along the multitude of islands that stretch out into the Atlantic Ocean. So many of the animals claimed refuge in the formation of our natural fortress.
In their black wetsuits and with their underwater gear, they took photos of us. I have heard that the ones they remove they take back to a lab and they tear open our skin for scientific research. Torture.
How is that going to save us?
Skeletons of us lay among the seafloor like a dead whale’s carcass. White and beige rough shells of what once was our exterior hot pink, bright blue, or even a moss green skin. So many of us are already gone. It’s the heat.
The algae is gone too. Without it we are defenseless. They keep us safe; they are our white blood cells, fighting off an infection that they can’t control.
I feel sick and alone.
A bland, long lost memory of what once was a lovely being.
The red tide has swooped in unexpectedly and poisoned all the fish. The tiny crabs are gone and the clams aren’t growing any more. Even the elusive moray eels and tiny seahorses are nowhere to be found.
There is nothing among the dying cliffs of coral.
My only company is miles away, a starving shark. Even that might be a lie the heat has told.
I am alone in the boiling pit of the sea with nothing except death’s embrace.
All my friends are dead or dying. We’ve been mowed down with motorized machines if the sun hasn’t scorched us first.
We are animals!
Sentient beings.
But they probably didn’t tell you that.
They never tell anyone anything.
They talk about us like we are ancient fossilized creatures of the past, and living and valuable and worthy of protection.
The ocean is a cemetery, full of headstones and memorials.
A morbid commodity that they believe is no longer beautifully living.
Cypress Wilde (they/them) is a disabled and queer author, artist, and zinemaker living in New Jersey. Their poetry chapbooks include I’m Stuck in Limbo, But Please Don’t Save Me (2022) and Clementine (2025). They have art published with Moss Puppy Mag and others. You can find them on instagram @behemothlullabies. Their handmade zines can be found at South Street Art Mart in Philadelphia.
