male blanket octopus:
size of a thumbnail, you peel off
your wriggling *****-filled
hectocotylus, cut your own arm
as a gift of love to a female
the size of kobe bryant
i imagine you van-gogh,
whispering "keep this object
like a treasure" as your unbloody
*** arm curls up in the safety of her
mantle, as you slink away to quiet
obscurity, as you find somewhere
dark and alone to finally die, giving
up your body as food, giving everything,
and i envy you your unobtrusiveness, wish
i could be free of ego and gregariousness, and
i envy your pure dedication to purpose, wish
i knew so firmly my life's end, wish
i knew anything

Now the cuttlefish
is a curious little critter,
not above shenanigans
because these naughty little things
indulge in oral ***.
What? Well, yes,
the male pops his hectocotylus
into the female’s mouth
and halleluja, does his thing
right there, without shame
or any ignobleness.
And the female?
Well, she doesn’t waste or swallow this
although she goes round other males
and solicits more deposits
for her clutch. Yes, her little clutch!
Eh? Such wantonness!
Really. But this precociousness
is just the way they like it
and shows us
there are many different ways
to indulge in coitus.
Yeah, just simply liking lots of hectocotylus
right down to, but properly,
stopping short of her esophagus.
Without any further apophasis
Obviously, nature thinks that this is efficacious,

Mike T Minehan