For Ray Harryhausen

Huge Octopus Topples the Golden Gate!
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms skulks
Ashore, hearing a foghorn, lonely for friends.
Nessie slips from the Loch to seize a mate.
Swarming tentacles haul great, breathing hulks
From frozen deeps to clutch prey, then descend.
The clumsy frogman from the Black Lagoon
Gazes, glistening, from the giant sail
Of the drive-in screen, at nestled, flinching teens—
But these beasts don’t belong here, and soon
They’re beaten. They slink from our defended soil,
Sink in the cold whirl. We are their sardines. . . .
Sea birds, drunken on guts, hover over
Churned seas, watching for the next poor monster.

Original appearance in Scythe magazine.