the mesopelagic touches the underside
of a boat my father dreamed he built
I turned his fortune
into a sturdy vessel
that churned through countless waves
to the place where everything is equidistant
then in the chamber
of a lowered diving bell
through thick glass suddenly
the rarely seen close relative
of the telescope appears
looks like an x-ray of a lightbulb
transparently ate an orange crayon
attached to a tangle
of those white xmas lights
then came to my door
to silently ask for sugar
through her I can see the whole black absence
of the deepest layer where she lives
all along I didn’t realize I feared
I was the predator
hunting for what was never there
but here she is deeper down
where no light passes through her radula
moving from one lightless spot to another
she leaves no glowing trace
she needs no mate to amputate its arm
to present to her
I watch her as I rise back up
into the blue light that knows
to be truly sad you have to go elsewhere