After laying a clutch of eggs, mother octopuses quit eating and waste away. […] By the time the eggs hatch, the mother octopuses are dead.
– Independent, 17th May 2022 *
DEDICATE
downdeep seawater saltkeep guardian homefind instinct shelters generate
cavedark maternal shielded tentacle primeval parental deepcold populate
seafloor makesafe eggstore keepsafe keepdeep darkdeep reefdeep incubate
lonelife solitude impelled quietude calmhush coldrush withdraw insulate
broodbed clutches muchmany mothered moresame capsules replicas template
softbody dreaming slowtime weakened diminish languish dwindles enervate
starving shutdown starving shutdown starving shutdown starving stagnate
sacpurge delivery lifewane legacies lastgasp lastgift multiply recreate
Sarah Doyle is the Pre-Raphaelite Society’s Poet-in-Residence. She has been published widely and placed in many competitions. A pamphlet of poems collaged from fragments of Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals – Something so wild and new in this feeling – was published by V. Press in 2021, and her second pamphlet, (m)othersongs, was published by the same press in autumn 2023.
Website: sarahdoyle.co.uk / Twitter: @PoetSarahDoyle