Notes from nature on how to survive this:

1. Learn crypsis and mimesis be a gecko or a mossy frog

2. Method actors sway like dead-leaf mantises on branches

3. Spikes are effective, mollusc shells cumbersome

4. Warning! sea urchins maim and poison in any depth zone

5. Wear red, hiss, spray, rattle in worst-case scenarios

6. Injured starfish grow another limb, they don’t miss the old one,
barely remember it, apparently

7. Hide, freeze, or gallop away from prairie rain and savannah shadows

8. *Important* octopuses can be harmed by their own ink cloud

Farah Ali has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and shortlisted for the Touchstone Awards. She has been published in Anti-Heroin Chic, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Rattle, Right Hand Pointing, tiny wren lit, Tokyo Poetry Journal and many others.