your abyss (a poem, published on the new moon, for creatures who will never see the moon)
(it ends with disfiguration)
Article voiceover
For all those who’ve been othered. Made to feel deviant.
For all those at odds with hegemony. Suffering at the hands of empire.
For the abyssal creatures.
your abyss
We thought it was empty. Could not imagine flourishing in lightless deep, in edgeless crush. thought we'd stare into the void, and it would stare back and nod: yes, humans, it's all for you. the whole thing. this whole speck in a sunbeam; this whole droplet in the ocean of time, and so then the whole speck, sunbeam, sun; droplet, ocean, cosmos: for you. Organized around your experience, pitched toward your preference, groveling before your empire, plattered for your appetite, laddered toward your ego, centered on your needs— this planet, universe, were destined, even designed for you. When we finally looked we found our planet's largest biome. Life's most exuberant expression, it's most realized chaos. We found y'all. Our lost kin. Or are we lost? Trapped so long on a surface, we've forgotten how to live with no edge. Trapped so long with this harsh light we've forgotten a world where the only glow is fellow beings. Trapped so long, precessing in two dimensions, we've forgotten how to radiate. How to sink. Take me into your abyss. Teach me how to hold my breath. t Spli my neck to grow my gills ; soft my bones and web my limbs , teach me your c e gr a f ul u n l a o n d u t i ; how to balloon to balance depth. Swell my eyes , that I might see ; translate your glimmer spark and shimmer. Adorn me with feathers to feel the current, sap my pigment, make me translucent and train one organ ( my heart, perhaps ) to glow.
This makes me want to be an abyssal creature!
Lovely