The Lives Of The Artists, Certain Others Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

I dreamed that people underwater
were speaking to those on dry land
what I noticed the most was

how condescending were the people on land
never perceiving
what a miracle of fortitude it was

that the undersea people
were even still capable of speech at all.
but the fact was,

not only were they speaking,
(literate) , as they say, speaking
but they sang arias beside the corals

they painted watercolours
of the undersea kingdoms where they
had been lost for centuries

after the hardtack drifted away
and the sharks had come to stay.

oh my! a little child thought: one day,
they are still alive!

and it was beautiful, beautiful.
but the people on land
congratulated themselves

for managing to stay on land
and gave themselves the great awards.
and honored each other

for dining out regularly
refined in their choice of smorgasbord
and couldn't hear the people

they had thrown overboard.

mary angela douglas 28 october 2017