School of Innocents

They wanted legs, feet, sand between their toes,
lungs filled with harmless hide and seek.

Mermaids knew the sea, salt laced lips,
the whale song vibrating survival,
but nothing of the crusted path of humans.

Like a school of innocents they swallowed the hook
love came unmolested by greed, by betrayal,
by the glass world of exploitation.
Oxygen and heels came at the cost of freedom.

The sea will always sing of home,
solid ground a mournful hum of withering.


©Susie Clevenger 2017

                                                  Untitled
                                   by Thomas Eakins (1910)
                                                 Fair Use

            Real Toads ~ Camera Flash

Comments

Kerry O'Connor said…
You really built this up, Susie, layer upon layer, and the 4th stanza delivers a very strong message..
October 7, 2017 at 11:09 AM
Sanaa Rizvi said…
'love came unmolested by greed, by betrayal, by the glass world of exploitation'.. this is such a strong image. Beautifully rendered.
October 7, 2017 at 11:49 AM
brudberg said…
This had me thinking of the little mermaid in its original tragic version before Disney glossed over the true tragedy of the separated worlds... better stay or you will be foam that crests the waves.
October 7, 2017 at 2:56 PM
Vivian Zems said…
Oxygen and heels came at the cost of freedom- thanks for sharing this. Mermaids have to make sacrifices, like the rest of us.
October 7, 2017 at 4:46 PM
tonispencer said…
I too thought of the uncensored little mermaid and how she made such choices as she did.
October 7, 2017 at 6:16 PM
purplepeninportland.com said…
This is a whale of a tail, Susie!
October 7, 2017 at 7:13 PM
Anonymous said…
Such a sad little tale you’ve crafted here.
October 7, 2017 at 9:25 PM
Old Egg said…
Oops! Just posted mine and see you have included mermaids too. Sadly they will always regret their choice to stay. Like us we always think the grass is greener elsewhere. Loved it.
October 8, 2017 at 12:10 AM
Kim M. Russell said…
Your School of Innocents carries the sounds of the sea in it, Susie, and I love mermaid poems. I find these lines especially effective:
'lungs filled with harmless hide and seek';
'the whale song vibrating survival';
and
'The sea will always sing of home,
solid ground a mournful hum of withering'.
October 8, 2017 at 2:09 AM
Anonymous said…
So beautiful and haunting. A song of longing.
October 8, 2017 at 4:26 AM
Isadora Gruye said…
You make a lot of great observations here, tied in with unique images....toes on sand, lungs filling with air. Well done and viva la.
October 8, 2017 at 2:32 PM
Truedessa said…
Oxygen and heels came at the cost of freedom. Indeed it did as now they sing a haunting song.
October 8, 2017 at 6:04 PM
Jazzbumpa said…
Mermaids, like Tolkien's elves can chose a live among mortal men.

But at such cost.

namaste
JzB
October 8, 2017 at 8:58 PM
kaykuala said…
The sea will always sing of home,
solid ground a mournful hum of withering.

Home is where the heart is! Rightly so Susie!

Hank
October 8, 2017 at 10:06 PM
Brendan said…
Great stuff, Susie -- We carry in our blood-salt the memory of Mother, and the departure to land and all the misadverntures of Man haunts and guilts us. I loved the hide-and-seek of breath on land, how "oxygen and heels came at the price of freedom." We left the school of innocents, and then we overfished it.
October 9, 2017 at 3:30 AM
Marian said…
The real story of The Little Mermaid is so agonizingly tragic. You have really captured that here, Susie. Argh
October 9, 2017 at 11:54 AM
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