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She Crab (Free verse) by http://mulberryfairy
This crab, this partially buried crab, wet with tide, resides in waiting. A young child will yell out, thrilled at finding a whole one, a live one. The child, who fears the movement of spidery legs, her pinchers, her knowing antennae, will dig her out with driftwood. She flips suddenly, too soon, the child startles back then sees her calm display: the place where the once too too solid flesh lived. Now her hollow husk contains a bit of salty sand, brown flecks of others’ shells. Fear dissipated, the child's cold fingers linger, then turn her back over, leave her fragile body in the tide, her legs still attached and floating, lifelike, protruding eyes surveying all, passive.

Up the ladder: Suicide Dream
Down the ladder: A Second

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Arithmetic Mean: 8.25
Weighted score: 5.8740597
Overall Rank: 1536
Posted: October 11, 2004 6:40 AM PDT; Last modified: October 11, 2004 6:40 AM PDT
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Comments:
[10] abecedarian @ 4.11.204.152 | 11-Oct-04/9:11 AM | Reply
A gorgeous moment. The gendering of the crab is intersting. Are you making a personal statement or merely recounting an event?
[10] peaceseeker @ 63.164.145.85 | 11-Oct-04/1:03 PM | Reply
So vivid I can smell the saltwater.
The crab looked alive, but was actually dead.
The lifelike floating legs and protruding passive eyes surveying all - kind of creepy, yet thought provoking!
[9] Dovina @ 24.52.156.155 | 12-Oct-04/4:30 PM | Reply
A nice description of the crab, except for "too too solid flesh." I'm trying to see it as a metaphor. Wish I could.
[8] New Life Drug @ 69.107.3.231 | 12-Oct-04/9:44 PM | Reply
she crab and he lobster are going to have wild sex and make herman's hermit babies. driftwood is hot. and so is everything about this poem.
[n/a] <~> @ 167.206.181.179 | 10-Jan-06/9:14 AM | Reply
"She flips suddenly, too soon,
the child startles back "

the child flips, or the crab flips? I can't tell if the crab is/was alive/dead, and i want to know. clarifying this will clarify all.

i agree about the too, too solid flesh; i don't see it as solid at all.

that being said, this is a great moment. you dropped us right into it.
[n/a] zodiac @ 209.193.18.119 > <~> | 10-Jan-06/9:21 AM | Reply
The crab is "she", apparently.
[n/a] <~> @ 167.206.181.179 > zodiac | 10-Jan-06/9:24 AM | Reply
could be, but the language confuses me. call me a dolt. this part:

"then sees her calm display"

who see the calm siplay? the crab, the child?
[n/a] http://mulberryfairy @ 64.222.209.137 > <~> | 10-Jan-06/9:06 PM | Reply
I attempted to set it up with the title (SHE crab)- the crab is a she, but the child is noticeably genderless- never referred to with any pronoun.
the too too solid flesh is an allusion to Shakespeare- it is about suffering- of being alive and in pain rather than dead and in peace. I think it was from Hamlet.
[n/a] zodiac @ 209.193.18.119 > http://mulberryfairy | 10-Jan-06/9:30 PM | Reply
So's the crab, for that. And they're both from Eliot. But I bet you knew that.
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