John Olson, p.1
CAPTAIN NEMO SERVES PROFESSOR ARONNAX
Captain Nemo serves professor Aronnax
tortue de mer, foies de dauphin & confitures
d’anemones. Meanwhile above
the water enclosing the outer
hull the breakers roll in & crash
on the shores of Tahiti & the Nautilus
unravels its meanings in octo-
syllables & tumultuous vowels
blown into opals with fins & mouths
just like a real poem. Can a purpose
be suggested for luminescence
in cephalopods? A complete answer
cannot be given because the deep-sea
habitat of most luminescent squids
makes direct observation
almost impossible. Jules Verne
wrote a number of books of science
fiction & later gave birth
to Raymond Roussel. Oysters
& mussels, syntax
& forêts sous-marines. Octopuses can crawl
through almost unbelievably small
openings. To reach a desirable lair
an octopus will flatten its rubberlike body
& ooze through a hole several times
smaller than the diameter of its body
Je n’étais pas le mâitre de mes paroles
confessed Paul Eluard at the window
of the real. The necessity of speaking
& the desire not to be heard. The meaning
in a motion & the meaning between
the meaning. A larger view of things
at the bottom or the top or the in-between
the solemn geography of human limits
like the eye of the Nautilus
opening on the bottom of the ocean
Captain Nemo serves professor Aronnax
tortue de mer, foies de dauphin & confitures
d’anemones. Meanwhile above
the water enclosing the outer
hull the breakers roll in & crash
on the shores of Tahiti & the Nautilus
unravels its meanings in octo-
syllables & tumultuous vowels
blown into opals with fins & mouths
just like a real poem. Can a purpose
be suggested for luminescence
in cephalopods? A complete answer
cannot be given because the deep-sea
habitat of most luminescent squids
makes direct observation
almost impossible. Jules Verne
wrote a number of books of science
fiction & later gave birth
to Raymond Roussel. Oysters
& mussels, syntax
& forêts sous-marines. Octopuses can crawl
through almost unbelievably small
openings. To reach a desirable lair
an octopus will flatten its rubberlike body
& ooze through a hole several times
smaller than the diameter of its body
Je n’étais pas le mâitre de mes paroles
confessed Paul Eluard at the window
of the real. The necessity of speaking
& the desire not to be heard. The meaning
in a motion & the meaning between
the meaning. A larger view of things
at the bottom or the top or the in-between
the solemn geography of human limits
like the eye of the Nautilus
opening on the bottom of the ocean