Aug 1, 20242 min read

[Poetry] Two Poems by Terry Trowbridge

Scientific Value of the Subtle Cuttle

Obviously, cuttlefish dream

since they are made out of colors

and are the shape of sound.

What we can learn from their sleep

is the subtler question

of sleep apnea

in a creature made of siphuncles

and chambered sinuses,

snoring lacunae and ratios,

and time shifting through shell:

snorkel, startle, scuttle,

tendril and twitch

Chrysoprase Magic

When algae civilizations line their coral groves

with statues of saints and conquerors,

they should carve their sacred statues from chrysoprase.

The silica polishes to look like

bacteria that swallowed spinach and then sunlight shone through –

nightmarish slime jewels that could hide under the beds of picky eaters

or possibly set in a modern faerie crown of twisted wood

to represent the green of hedge leaves,

inflected by green spots green like pine at night,

reflected on a suburban swimming pool.

That dark green, suspended inside, insinuates

the smells of coniferous summers

and implies the impending algae blooms of the Great Lakes.

Tap chrysoprase against a bedroom window

to wake up a sleeper who is amenable to springtime skinny dipping.

Fit flat stones into eyeglasses for seeing lizards and aphids on the shore.

Polish a flat stone and skip it across the lake water

and do not forget the last sound it hears.

Skip, skip, cry of the gull, percuss, percuss, and it falls from the sky

onto the seaweed and submerged grey-greens.

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