#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Atlantic Portuguese man-o-war, Fort Lauderdale Beach
They litter the beach, these fascinating, dangerous, awe inspiring organisms, where I walk after a leisurely breakfast.
“The Atlantic Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war,[1] or floating terror, is a marine hydrozoan of the family Physaliidae found in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its venomous tentacles deliver a painful sting, which on extremely rare occasions has been fatal to humans.[2] Despite its outward appearance, the Portuguese man o’ war is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore, which, unlike jellyfish, is not a single multicellular organism, but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals (of the same species) called zooids or polyps.[3] These polyps are attached to one another and physiologically integrated to the extent that they are unable to survive independently, and therefore have to work together and function like an individual animal.”
I must be careful not to step on one in my bare feet. Like pink ziploc bags packed with blue ink spilling from a hole in the bottom. On my return, I look them up, discover this Atlantic Portuguese man-o'-war is not, in fact a type of jelly fish. It's not even a single organism, but "a colony of individual organisms that must work together to function as an individual animal!" Well, I'm intrigued and want to know more; I just don't want to meet one in the water, so I guess I won't be swimming in the ocean this trip.
And then, a windbreak of hibiscus bushes in front of a hotel has been rattled by sea breezes and suddenly I am stepping by blossom after blossom gorgeously ruined by surf.
I'm thinking about the poem I tweaked before sleeping last night. I thought I had found the right title, but a better one rose to the surface of consciousness just before sleep. And then, in the liminal space of almost sleep, I tweak the title, finally, one last time, I suspect. This morning I remember to place this final title on the revised poem, and I feel satisfied, this feels just right, complete.
A second, late afternoon walk ends with palm trees and the sun about to set on a lovely day.
Almost sunset
All text and photos copyright 2018 by Kelly DuMar, unless otherwise attributed