Marine Preservatives (poem)

Marine Preservatives

What your hearing, says John
is the sound of petrol exploding.
The long tracks in the sand
look like belly prints of refugee snakes
What refugees? Find some wet sand.
A dog is eating a diaper on the beach.
The jellyfish are taking over the ocean;
Someone said they love climate change.


They don’t catch much fishing that way.
Moonlight in an old water bottle, want it?
Its not as valuable as turtle bone earrings,
but its worth more than a can of jellyfish.
Jellies have no hearts and no blood, he said.

The first time I got bent
I couldn’t walk anymore.
But I was one of the best
at placing the dynamite,
so they let me keep my job.
Everyday my friends
carried me out to the boat.

The fish and blood in the water from the dynamite
attracted sharks. Want shark fins? Buy a can of explosives.
A dolphin head is drying on the roof. This rain will be good
for the papaya trees. Who flooded the hospital garden?
The patients aren’t wearing any shoes. They are dancing
on the mosquito larvae. The monk said they’re inbred
and that’s why they are stupid. What if they just like to dance?

What would you like to drink?
Do you have pineapple juice?
We have it in a can.
Yes, but do you have it in a can screaming?
Do you have it in a can screaming and with blood? Do you have
three more generations? what about in a jar? What about Hopefish? Can you find me a steak of Hopefish with trumpet flower and onion? Do you have that?
with a glass bottle of jellyfish moonshine?