From buried cracks
And open wounds
Shrouded scales
Begin to seep.
Cutting across murky waters
Into buried memories
And forgotten half-truths,
Inky fingerprints
Preserve their presence
Alongside court proceedings
And local weather reports.
Over time these sightings
Are recalled as prophecies;
Portents of the restless Earth
That slyly secrete themselves
As cherished traditions.
 
Curious custodians
Challenge accepted lore,
Their digital excavations
Laying bare the absence of fact.
The fallacy of this folklore
Cast beneath the waves;
An empty carcass on which
The ribbonfish can feast.
The unicorn crestfish or unicornfish (Photo Credit: Sandra Raredon/Smithsonian Institution via Wikimedia Commons).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that despite local folklore the appearance of deep-sea fish in shallow waters is not a precursor for