for Amanda Schaffer
I’m really bright blue. I keep going back and forth
between trying to live up to my name
and following my reflection, or my nature.
I know no east, no north,
no consequence, or permanence, or blame;
I regard the curious child
who feeds me as a disinterested creator,
neither beloved nor reviled.
I reserve my love
for holy Ariel,
my admiration for the king of the sea,
inch-high, great-bearded Neptune, whose silent rule
extends over bubbles, and artificial
coral, and a filtration system, and me.
All the colors I recognize are alive
in the pebbles at the bottom of my tank.
I pretend each trace or trail
I make in the clarified water
amounts to my emphatic signature,
which I have chosen to leave in invisible ink.