When I’m writing a poem, I often know how it’s going to end long before I know how it’s will begin. It’s a little like taking a road trip. You don’t usually hop in the car and start driving without a destination in mind. First, you decide where you want to go. Then you figure out how to get there. You might take a wrong turn or two along the way, but if you keep your destination in sight, you’ll eventually arrive.
This poem came together much the same way. The ending popped into my head first, and I knew I wanted to build a poem that would lead naturally to it. The challenge was finding just the right beginning and then connecting all the dots in between. Fortunately, I had two very cooperative octopuses to help me get there. I hope you enjoy it. This is…
Octo-Pair
An octopus walking along the sea floor
was startled to look up and see,
an octopus she’d not encountered before
and cried, “Why, you look just like me!”
He also exclaimed, with a look of surprise,
“Your face looks like mine in the mirror.
We have the same siphons and suckers and eyes.
We’re siblings! That couldn’t be clearer.
“Our tentacles also are all the same size,
with all the same spots on the skin.
It’s plain as can be from the arms and the eyes
that you’re my eye-tentacle twin.”
— Kenn Nesbitt
