It storms all dayDominic tells me
the mass of a blue whale

A great white can be big as the living
roomHe mixes a rum drink
Compares my height to a dolphin’s
How it swam between his legs
when he was youngBigger
than a horseHe fears
of giant clamsHow their jaws
could drown our dog

He orders vintage t-shirts
of aquatic creaturesCoral shoulders
A gar gliding across his belly
much softer than the dermal denticles
of sharks: thousands of tiny skin-teeth

He takes out the butter and garlic
A bag of frozen scallops
I cannot eat now that I’ve seen
their eye-bodiesI ask
How did the oceans look
before the dinosaurswhen everywhere
was home?He can’t answer

but he’ll never buy a live lobster again
after Brady rescued LeonWe watched
his claws lose their banded scars
A crustacean with a fan following
Dom drinks his morning coffee
from a wildlife charity mug

He assures me that jellyfish survived
five mass extinctionsNo brains
or blood or heartsHis arms around
my shouldersMy hands link
We draw a giant siphonophore

He traces my veinsAsks if I know
that a horseshoe crab’s blood
has saved millions of lives
400 million yearson our few decades

I say that I knowbig blue fantasies
I ask which of them volunteered