The Rules are Different Here

Snorkeling adventures in the Indian Ocean

Fish in slow chaos,

a newniverse

glinting silver in the sunlight.

Impossible specks of yellow and blue in the seaweed,

giant purple wood ear anemone

we are not allowed to touch,

midnight ribbons twirling up
into the otherworld.

We are an odd school 

of big fish,

a gaggle of yellow and steel,

gillless

and breathing in bubbles.

We swim in schools - 

circus acrobats,

confused blue tong-tailed fish,

plump, clingy silverbacks.

Blue on yellow,

pink on green.

The constant hiss

of invisible crabs crackling their claws.

The rules are different down here,

and just for the day

we could belong.