slippery, and slick in the palm of my hand. fluorescent purple. translucent.
tongues pause, holding. imagine the pulse. contract contract. silt graces your
lips. gelatinous as in thick, thick as in liquid solidified. native species. alien
species. invasive alien species. problem or nuisance species. living in the counter
current — the flat cool of your sphere pressing softly — surface to surface,
entangled still. reminding me of your organs, arms, tentacles. my palm and 95
percent water. washed up, a mass or a blob — once called a “useless creature”
and “nettle of the sea”: european ‘natural’ history-making. native species. alien
species. invasive alien species. problem or nuisance species. now, your slow
drift — fluid, mysterious — studied for your unmatched efficiency. jellyfish
swimming lessons turned into futures for underwater vehicles. how to extract
water from water? pulsating ancestries. you — moving toward the water;
humans pushing water backward. you, the invertebrate, formless, template for
growing backbone, but we know your form, otherworldly, twirling tongues, as
in floating sensorium.

to describe the unknown:
manipulating physics. expel.

so, a tidal eulogy for you, for your cousins — “ultimate guerrilla protestors”,
shutting down nuclear power plants in coastal waters. may we carry on:
clogging up filters and pipes, igniting in bloom — an undulating assemblage.
gelatinous futures, as in mass protest, shapeshifting currents, nearly
immortal — your spells in adaptability. & yet — the rising invasion, swarms,
attacking, even catastrophe, now a national security risk, under
surveillance — drones, killer robots: JEROS (jellyfish elimination robotic
swarm). native species. alien species. invasive alien species. problem or nuisance
species. morphing both of us, insisting, reminding, queer kin — you mold and
unmold the palm of my hand. we taste each other, again.
propel, propel, propel.