A journal of art + literature engaging with nature, culture, the environment & ecology

Cabbage Patch

D H Jenkins, Wanaka, New Zealand

 

A six foot long white tipped reef shark,

tail twisting side to side, searching for

prey, swims along the reef;

above, the halo eye around the sun 

leads us to believe heavy weather comes,

so we descend quickly, equalizing

pressure as we go, 

following the dark shape along the reef.

 

Current pushes against us as we flatten

atop the sand under the vortex of water

like air pouring off a wing;

then after fifteen minutes of finning,

we pop up in front of a giant cabbage 

patch of yellow coral, its leaves longer 

than our bodies, spreading forever—

lustrous golden sunken treasure.

 

Like in Alice's wonderland we are 

taken back to childhood, and in our

masks we glimpse the eternal play

of parrot fish, turtles, stingrays,

thru ancient eyes of innocence. 

 

And our air bubbles rise up to the sun 

like champagne in a crystal glass.  

A gray reef shark appears grinning,

its moon mad teeth sparkling bright

as it swims away from us aliens,

swishes its tail and is gone.

We surface in the open water, sighting the 

dive boat, which motors over, lightning

flickering in the distance.

As we lever our gear aboard and crawl

out of the ocean we call out our dive figures:

“Air, 50 bar”; “bottom time, 45 minutes”;

“maximum depth, the Pleistocene”.

 

D. H. Jenkins’ plays have been staged in California, Arizona, Australia, and Japan. His poems appear in the art films Call From a Distant Shore and Our Autumn, and in The Tiger Moth Review and Jerry Jazz Musician. He lives in Wanaka, New Zealand.

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