by David Ly
At the bottom of an ocean concealed by ice
a long muscular tail wraps itself around a pulsing orb of light
that illuminates indentations on see-through skin
where eyes might have evolved, given the opportunity.
He fantasizes about releasing a warmth he’s always held,
uncurling his tail and swimming further into the cold abyss
to satisfy his curiosity for what else exists in the dark.
Or else, he could swim towards the light sensed from below,
burst through a frigid surface where cryovolcanoes ooze—
hoping his gills could handle the atmosphere.
Since the compulsion to stay in one place has started to feel
like a curse and a galaxy with billions of stars is nestled
in an “ocean world,” there are new horizons for a being
with nowhere to go, trapped in a subsurface reservoir
responsible for holding unknown existences he’s never
questioned, now on the edge of the knowable.
David Ly’s poems have appeared in PRISM international, The Puritan, Arc Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry 2021, and elsewhere. He is the author of Mythical Man, which was shortlisted for the 2021 ReLit Poetry Award. His sophomore poetry collection, Dream of Me as Water, is forthcoming in 2022.
Ocean Boy can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 4.2.
