Seaside succubus has seen better days
she used to do tailspins
plunging to the ocean floor, scooping
sand dollars and coral to lace her hair

For a while she spent time as a model
a wonder of the seven seas
for illustrators and painters
holding her breath ‘til her gills collapsed

She managed a bar in the shoals
bailing out tidepool treats
for rum-sodden pirates
and searching sailors’ wives
until the debts sunk her

So she posed as a demure mermaid
on the rocks sipping margaritas
as tourists snapped shots
then joined a band, singing bebop jazz
but tidal tempers capsized the trio

Scales no longer shine like sequins
her hair is dried seaweed
and tail resembles fish sticks
scarred from near scrapes
with more ferocious visitors

When a man answered
her cracking siren call
she chose to follow her ebb
file down dragonfish fangs
welcome him as lifeboat companion

They are buoys; she tells briny tales
of tossed seas and shipwrecks
colorful fish and squid
and he of plains undulant with grasses
or the shifting Sahara sands

She knows she has found a treasure
who will cherish her salt-scoured self
until she is but a pearl of memory
a dream as eternal as the tides