Poem by Sylvia Plath

Aquatic Nocturne

deep in liquid indigo
  turquoise slivers
    of dilute light

quiver in thin streaks
  of bright tinfoil
    on mobile jet:

pale flounder
  waver by
    tilting silver:

in the shallows
  agile minnows
    flicker gilt:

grapeblue mussels
  dilate lithe and
    pliant valves:

dull lunar globes
  of bulbous jellyfish
    glow milkgreen:

eels twirl
  in wily spirals
    on elusive tails:

adroit lobsters
  amble darkly olive
    on shrewd claws:

down where sound
  comes blunt and wan
    like the bronze tone
      of a sunken gong.

1. The Disquieting Muses
2. Words for a Nursery
3. Sleep in the Mojave Desert
4. Gold Mouths Cry
5. All the Dead Dears

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