See the sweet mermaid
with scales on her belly?
Her long, kelpy hair
is all fishy and smelly.
She lurks near the tidepools –
that’s where her kind lingers,
with limpets and barnacles
stuck to their fingers.
She snacks on crustaceans,
some living, some dead,
smashing open their shells
with a blow from her head.
She fears the deep water,
where sharks wait to maim her.
She longs to be human –
I can’t say I blame her.
Copyright © 2020 by P. B. Pitsker. All rights reserved
