“a kelp forest is one of the undersea wonders
of the world….We will try to explain the secret
of this sea kelp.” – Se-Kwon Kim
Avert your eyes from kelp mounds, stretched across
the beach like walruses from other worlds,
deceased but hungry for attention. Up close,
their meaty lattices, unkempt, intestinal,
deep breathe with flies. Their tentacles now lax,
bear swollen bulbs to float them vertical.
Experts refuse to label them as plants –
no vasculars, stomata, chlorophyll.
But kelp has tired of living rootless, vain
extending for the sun, the boring sway
of tides, and soon they lose it, snap and strain
to shore, creeping boneless from the waves.
They long to green and harden, make canopies,
put down legs, and join our life of gravity.