Vanatee

Oh Vanity
You monstrous manatee swimming though the depths of my conciousness
Devouring the silver fish of pure thoughts
Replacing them with gastric belches

How silently you maneuver these waters
Invisible to peering eyes
Until you break the surface with your bulbus bulges
And grotesque contorting face

How evasively you skirt my hunting patrols
Circling these sees with silencing harpoon guns
That always seem to fire too late

I sense you there, lurking within me
Waiting for your next chance to erupt
Waiting for the next school of thought to swim haplessly by
Waiting to impress your silly face upon my own
in a whiskered portrayal of useless behaviour

I’m onto you like Ahab
But without the failing crutch of murder
oh no~
I aim to set you free

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

terrific extended metaphor---and the allusion to Moby Dick....is great....if we have nothing to chase....then behavior seems useless.
vanity is always lurking...but if we can stay away from it....we can swim in modesty and be respected.

nicely done.---

[Crispy]

Thank you sir Jacob, and well said. Circling wide might be our best option in the murkier waters of life. And I appreciated the sync of your own wailing allusion in "at Ahab's Retreat".

[RAP]

I like the way you maneuver your words in this extended metaphor. To set your vanity free seems a wise choice; to try to do away with pride is futile anyway. My favorite line: "Circling these sees with silencing harpoon guns" if indeed you do mean "see" as in the seat of authority. Missed the expected reference to Solomon's writing Vanity, all is vanity; save that for another poem. Thanks for sharing.

[Crispy]

Thank you for your potency~

I'd never read that scrip before, but it's quite beautiful. Shakespearean almost.
I appreciate the share