Something in words that’s perverse,
That wants to be beyond
What we understand and control—
Something above or below.
“Watch out for the undertoad,”
Was what she heard her father
Shout above the waves—
That a word misheard could create
Such a creature
And feed her childhood fears.
Or how I mistyped “undertow”
As “undertown”
And found myself inhabiting
A city beneath the sea
Where everything moved slowly
And breathed chains of bubbles
That rose toward the upper world,
A tethering of pearls.