Pseudo-nitzschia australis

Deidre Cavazzi

Summer sweeps in on a red tide
soup-thick and blood-warm.

At night, dolphins crest
sapphire in the bow wave,
weaving, glittering, as if they 
were merely the idea of dolphins 
colored quavering and luminous.
Sea lions traced in neon
erupt out of fireworks
of fish, trailing light from
their flippers and etching
the hunt behind my eyelids.
Pelicans wing-skim the waves,
setting off gem-bright bursts like
liquid Morse code.

But then. But then—

flotsam of bodies on beaches,
shivering, swaying
cascade of too much, too late.
Of the aftermath of impossible green
on every coastal golf course, every
manicured garden. Sea surface grown
thick as shag carpet, diatoms tangled in
spaghetti-glass strands, crocheted together
at the base of the food chain.

Millions of mouths become thousands
become hundreds become
apex predators at the last supper,
unknowingly feasting on the progress
of industry, on lawns that have forgotten
how to die, on the accumulation of bodies
in bellies rising with the tide,

soup-thick and blood warm.

The Science

Red tides occur when phytoplankton blooms are triggered by marine heatwaves and/or the movement of nutrient-dense water towards the surface, and contain many microscopic species that experience accelerated growth triggered by changes in temperature, weather, and agricultural and wastewater run-off. In particular, the chemicals in many commercial fertilizers contribute to phytoplankton blooms. Some of the organisms glow in the dark, creating a stunning turquoise glow at night, and others, like Pseudo-nitzschia australis, are toxic, producing devastating consequences as they bioaccumulate up the food chain. Poisoning due to domoic acid, a toxin produced by Pseudo-nitzschia australis, has resulted in the deaths and strandings of thousands of marine mammals and sea birds in recent decades.

The Poet

Deidre Cavazzi is a poet and choreographer who can often be found wandering in the California redwoods or looking out to sea. Her chapbook, carapace, root & feather, is available through Bottlecap Press and her writing appears in journals including Roanoke Review, Soundings East, Polarlit, Plants & Poetry, Corpus Callosum, Crow & Cross Keys, Rust & Moth, Merion West and Lunch Ticket. She spent eight years as a marine naturalist leaning over the bow of boats, peering into microscopes at plankton, rehabilitating seals and sea lions, and scouting for the breath of whales.

Next poem: ruins by Shaun Hil