The sea calls, hark! the shark hears but does not
obey. Some spells forbid the use of squid,
no one’s lord. Use a martyred whale, nets caught
in her baleen. Or a seahorse’s kid,
poisoned in the surf. We banished starfish,
seals, the bizarre man-of-war. The oceans
die and no one will heal them. The eel’s wish
is not Eros’. The octopus shuns
you. Let the otter, lover of sins,
guide you. Grind the skull of a gull, rub it
and salt’s ire, seashell’s grief, rage from seaweed
into a dolphin-toothed blade. Sea pagans
shall drown. Raise a turtle’s devil. Now split
the surf. Come aid the sea in its dire need.