your abyss (a poem, published on the new moon, for creatures who will never see the moon)
(it ends with disfiguration)
For all those who’ve been othered. Made to feel deviant.
For all those at odds with hegemony. Suffering at the hands of empire.
For the abyssal creatures.

your abyss
We thought it was empty.
Could not imagine
flourishing
in lightless deep,
in edgeless crush.
thought we'd stare
into the void,
and it would stare back
and nod:
yes, humans,
it's all for you.
the whole thing.
this whole speck
in a sunbeam;
this whole droplet
in the ocean of time,
and so then the whole
speck,
sunbeam,
sun;
droplet,
ocean,
cosmos:
for you.
Organized around your experience,
pitched toward your preference,
groveling before your empire,
plattered for your appetite,
laddered toward your ego,
centered on your needs—
this planet, universe,
were destined, even
designed for
you.
When we finally looked we found
our planet's largest biome.
Life's most exuberant expression,
it's most realized chaos.
We found y'all.
Our lost kin.
Or are we lost?
Trapped so long on a surface,
we've forgotten how to live with no edge.
Trapped so long with this harsh light
we've forgotten a world where the only glow is fellow beings.
Trapped so long, precessing in two dimensions,
we've forgotten how to radiate.
How to sink.
Take
me
into
your
abyss.
Teach
me
how
to
hold
my
breath.
t
Spli
my
neck
to
grow
my
gills
;
soft
my
bones
and
web
my
limbs
,
teach me
your
c e
gr a f ul
u n l a o n
d u t i ;
how to
balloon
to balance
depth.
Swell my eyes ,
that I might see ;
translate your glimmer
spark and shimmer.
Adorn me
with feathers
to feel
the current,
sap my pigment,
make me translucent
and train one organ (
my
heart,
perhaps
)
to glow.

This makes me want to be an abyssal creature!
Lovely