Mermaid Bones

We are aquatic ghosts—    
skeletal treasures plundered  
against an elite echelon    
of wise knowledge.    
   
Oceans wash our past    
over the shore; saying,    
‘You never left us—     
we rest inside you'.    
   
A continental shelf      
is heavy with seafaring lore;    
our feathered gills filter air—     
salt brines our tongue in war.    
   
Nets lure tangled stitches    
of bait, dragging for the oyster-    
pearl of our being as proof.      
   
‘Let us see you!’    
sailors howl rum-drunk    
at the moon.    
   
But, we'll shove our bones to sea—    
nest them as petrified wood    
before caged as chattel;    
   
build sandcastles on the beach—     
waves reminding us      
we can only be plucked by death;    
   
Biologists will gut us, discover we are tiny—    
malnourished, trawl for bigger game;      
our caudal fin curling, barnacled    
under the shadow of pursuit...    
   
while groper fish push their jaws closer—     
the whorl of their eyes our judge and jailer;    
   
Our inner naiad, in darkest water    
remains a bloody warrior.    
~