The Ichthyologist

The dreams are upon me again with impossible seas filled to the brim with equally impossible things with preposterous amounts of teeth Hereto I command an immortal ship and all ten hands on deck Standing abreast with the finest men, each thick headed and hell bent on seeing this through for reasons all their own Patching the sails with the shirts off their back, I need not sail alone the highest crests will fall like the rest under our battered hull The beast filled troughs our bow will cross atop their cartilage skulls The chill of the wind carries the hymn of things sounding disappointingly human I'm quick to remind my men to ignore these beauties with green skin A sure sign their blood is too thin, singing lampreys that will suck you dry This sea has no end Each of you will give in Only a matter of time before I bring you all bliss

Submitted by Finntroll — Apr 26, 2025

I awaken from what can hardly be called sleep Starving as if I had two stomachs to feed An ebb and tide of images in my mind of the two of you keeps my gut painfully empty The tar boils and churns I carve out and deny these infections on my soul and watch as they spawn a life of their own Leaving snail trails of scars over what little of me is still pure As they crawl towards where the tar boils and churns Aborted parts of my psyche are all found nourishing themselves at these pits Bubbling forth from the recesses of my mind where all I am slowly falls in Abominations of my being incessantly teething

Submitted by Morgoth — Apr 26, 2025

Finally, the horrible river has crawled back to bed Leaving our bog like streets now damned with the dried up dead Did you think it wise to build on the swollen banks of this delta? When news surfaces of the latest death toll, will you rethink your new capitol? Will our streets ever be dry again? Festering pools left behind will be the death of this city Breeding things with wings will only be the beginning When your governor rowed down J street to the inauguration could he smell the cholera? My offer to stands to build my land uphill You need only name it after me, Sutterville We will raise our streets fourteen feet above the river's reach

Submitted by Warbringer — Apr 26, 2025

I left your lover in the slough Your lover in the slough He spilled his guts but none of it was true I left your lover in the slough All the letters he wrote you, were left in plain view I recited them out loud as I was running him through I left your lover in the slough Crayfish will do as they wish No need to stick around and watch Crayfish will do as they wish with every inch of him Out here past the muck and brine, I wait beneath the power lines And now its half past nine He’s never been this late before Crayfish will do as they wish Cattails beyond the pale hide the reason why he’s late I almost can’t blame him, I may have done the same And would expect to pay when caught on someone else’s claim Crayfish will do as they wish with every inch of him

Submitted by The Void — Apr 26, 2025

Our ship struck twice by a whale Now dig in a bail before it's too late With the brine up to our knees All I can think is how you'll be the first to be eaten You will With the shit this deep you have to leave all the things behind that you can't eat Far too many adrift at sea You are our chosen source of meat With the brine up to our knees All I can think is how you'll be the first to be eaten You will

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Apr 26, 2025

Down here I wait with all my benthic friends Underneath the gate listening to lives end Those with seven gills will investigate each thunderous crash and corresponding shape In great detail, I described you to them In case the bridge is how you choose to end I'd like to have some last words with you before you end up on the Farallone's rocky shores Where the real beasts await to have their way With all the failures washed out from the bay A hundred years have past since just last autumn Please come to the bay, see who now lives on the bottom I'd like to have some last words before I forget how to walk upon these muddy shores and entirely cease to breathe like a man Seeing things only with the tips of my hands My heart is crushed by the jaws of regret Upon knowing where you now make your bed The depths at which I've chained to you I pray those shackles eventually rust through Held under by chiton like lies Amongst the corpses I'll never surface Debris bouncing off my hide Covered in detritus I've lost purpose What comfort lies in years of hating me? Haven't you in some way found a rare peace? Please realize your very soul's at stake you're still a man and I was just a tool of fate Your bite marks riddled my soul It got damn cold with all those holes So I left it on shore for all the gulls Take it There wasn't much left Take it Bit it's all yours Take it

Submitted by Pestilence — Apr 26, 2025

The found gold here but they never found me Underneath the temple on main street Where men spent their dust and one took my life In a town where two rivers collide I'm still here After the fire but before the water They made sure to leave no one on the bottom All the graves were lifted to higher ground But where I lay they never found I'm still here

Submitted by Morgoth — Apr 26, 2025

If you were to sever my arm I would grow one more As I regenerate I'll still have another four It would not be the first time autonomy has saved me If you were to sever my legs I would grow two more As I regenerate I'll still crawl on the floor These pieces please feel free to keep all for yourself They'll eat and breathe and grow into unsightly things Haunting you with their resemblance of me Though lacking any sort of heart I figure they'll fare better in your company They're all yours now Please keep them well fed because they're all yours now

Submitted by Pestilence — Apr 26, 2025

I swore I saw you sitting on my bow With a foot long smile trying to convince me That it's okay to give into the waves And that I wouldn't feel a thing When the hounds of the sea start to take apart me ending my suffering If I should pour the rest of my bottle overboard will it sting the eyes? Those black eyes staring up at me from behind all those teeth? Or should I save the last sip for my frozen gut and my blue lips?

Submitted by Infernal Flame — Apr 26, 2025

I chose this place because it has no bottom to interfere with my fall Anaerobic beds of silt preserving still the shock of what I saw Vivid descriptions I'd do anything to forget But here I am crushed by a million frigid tons of regret I will rest in one piece away from clawed things that would otherwise eat all that's left of me The world is not ready for what I saw down there That fateful day starting an endless autumn, words did seer my pupils Liquid acrylic quickly will freeze a broken will in water heavy as tar Somebody please take me to the deep where I can carry the weight of this burden you left for me to bare in frigid waters high above my head Surrounded by all the dead frozen like me in the saltless sea You can pay your respects at the shore now Goodbye, my love...

Submitted by Dahmers Fridge — Apr 26, 2025