jellyfish

ethereal flesh
floats upon the shore

sand sprinkled between each striation
attempts to make her sheer skin decent

aphrodite’s solid tears
boneless yet buoyant
intrigue the human perversion
if she does not sting
then she shall be undressed

her tentacles teased 

poked and prodded
smothered against the sand
dissected and demented 

upon your every demand 

how easy is it to dismiss the transparent–
to stare through its vessel of truth
as ego’s magnifying glass
to reaffirm reality as an opaque
substance you can see, study, and praise

you foolishly forget

she was once a siren’s secret
a pulse suspended in salt
not made to harden, only to feel
to bloom with the moon, to bruise without notice

her absence of bone

you torture as defective
unworthy of structure
but dont bones break too?

tell me, is it better not to bend in resilience

than to break in resistance?

you flatten her to a punchline
because she refuses to sting on command

no, she will not perform her pain for you

you grow bored and bury her in sand 

in attempt to erase her gelatinous existence  

and when she dissolves,
you won’t remember the way she shimmered

only the taste she left on your lips
strange, saltless, and suddenly gone