Mola Mola Poem by Jeffrey Yang

After Adam's nomenclature
Linnaeus disposuit, Tetraodon mola
Mola Mola millstone mill-
stone grinds
mollusca, arthropoda
crustacea, beak-plate Mola
not four-tootbed but four-gilled, thick-
skinned scaleless parasitic mambo
of Eocene traces, heterogeneous spaces
Giant Sun-
ship clavus rudder, twin-fins
stone sails temperate waters
from Agulhas Current to Yellow Sea
Algeria to Vietnam
cow-eyed Mola retroflects
self
splits nomen:
Visayan putol cut short, Hawaiian Makua parent
progenitor, Schwimmender Kopf swimming
head, Pez cabeza, Headfish, Moon-
fish, 曼 波 Manbô long wave, Almindelig
klumpfish, Ay balığı, Cá Mặt trăng,
Tunglfiskur, Girasole, Korshid-mahi-e-oghyanoosi,
Lua, Bucan, Bezador, Pixxitambur, Pixxiluna,
Bot, Boloublè, Orelhão, Ra-a-ta-a
hu-i-hu-i, Morski mesec, Φεγγαρόψαρο Fegaropsaro,
Opesee-sonvis, Qamar, Sol,
Maanvis, Månefisk, Poisson lune,
Pescio meua, Pesciu meua, Pesce bala,
Möhkäkala, Mullacchia, Niffâkha, луна-рыба luna-ryba,
Pervane baligi, Peixe-roda, Rolim,
Samoglów, Mánafiskur, Môle,
and Chinese 翻 車 魚 fan che yu, fish flipped car
or, scoop-wheel, the motiveforce
Needham wrote
of Su Song's armillary sphere.