Octopus Speaking

In the underwater tunnel of the civic aquarium

the octopus leaned his wretched head

against the glass of his turbid pool

sucking on his breathing tube, like

a severed vein

so he could live.

He asked for his ocean. He asked me,

the daughter of the powerful race.

I was standing alone like a child stands

with her entry ticket in her hand.

Jennifer Compton

‘Octopus Speaking’ was previously published in Parker & Quink (Charnwood, ACT: Ginninderra Press, 2004)

Photos in collage from: CSIRO CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) via Wikimedia Commons