Neoteny

Axolotls, axolotls,
Uncorked from the strangest bottles –
Ask a little, ask a lottl,
I’ll explain it in a jottl.
Giant tadpoles, stubbly legs,
Who, not adult, can still lay eggs,
And having reproduced, each pup
Shall cease all thought of growing up.
Their smiley mouths and baby faces
Compensate for stymied stasis,
(Never coming out as planned,
And never walking on the land) –
They’re salamanders who meander
Never wanting to be grander.
While most life is lived full-throttle,
Time stands still for the axolotl –
For whether it is dumb or clever,
They make childhood last forever
They quite refuse to lose their frills
And put away their childish gills,
They keep a fin upon their back
And regrow any parts they lack –
They do not blink at staying kids
(Because they don’t develop lids).
Yet with a shot of iodine
They can achieve their tiger’d sheen,
They can equip with tooth and lung –
Yet living fast means dying young,
While staying in their pond long-term
Shall bring the everlasting worm.
So golden, pink, or brown-with-mottles,
Here’s to ageless axolotls !

This poem is my attempt to write a bit like Ogden Nash.

Cold Fish

Fish are r-selectors,
They spew their eggs upon the deep.
On the current, on the hope
That a few of them will seep their way to adulthood,
Playing the odds and making good.

A few, though, are protectors –
Mouth-brooders, seahorses,
Their eggs in an extra envelope.
But once they’re born, of course, they’re on their own –
Even in a shoal, they swim alone.

But sharks are k-selectors,
Giving birth to one or two –
Yet then they leave their pups to cope.
So fish are absent parents, true, but don’t condemn –
I guess the numbers show it works for them.

Hide

Shhh…let’s lie low here for a while
And let our camouflage do its thing –
Let’s watch the daily rank-and-file
As it passes by on the wing.
Birds or people, far or near,
They flock till they part their ways.
If we keep still, we’ll dissapear
As they chase their busy days.
It’s good to sometimes sit and think
With a patient air and a weather eye –
Let’s slow our breaths and barely blink,
And watch the world go by.