Swirling along in the ever-blue sea

she nurses her calf

and grazes on green.

She came to that place

where the small men hunt,

small men with small phalanges piercing

the thin lobes of their small ears.

They eat flesh, these small men, and

they fuck even smaller women.

This fucking is important to them,

so important that sometimes they can't.

Swirling along in the ever-blue sea

calf warm at her breast. Bubbles

tickle and remind: time to breathe.

Air that she shares with the small men.

Breasts that she shares with the smaller women.

She rose to the wave that joins sea and air

and one of the small men saw

the quick mist from her blowhole.

He shouted and he pointed.

They ran to surround her.

Splashing away the ever-blue sea.

The small men push, pull, poke, prod  

until she's stranded on the beach.

Where is my child?

They beat her eyes with rocks until tears slide down

Precious few,

every one captured,

every one trapped,

mingled with blood

on a small cotton swab.

Aphrodesia.

(Note to Friends: The dugong is an endangered marine mammal who spends her time grazing in the shallows for seaweed. She has a lifespan of 70 years and produces only a few young. Some humans believe her tears are powerful aphrodesiacs. So they capture dugong and beat her around the eyes to make her cry. Then they capture the tears and sell them. This one died on an Egyptian beach. She was photographed by an environmental advocacy group called HEPCA.)