Dive (for Alexander Semenov)

by Lee Nash

Come back soon, I whisper

as he wriggles
into his Ursuit®

dons his enormous flippers
ready to topple backwards
into the White Sea

Bring me snaps
of sea urchins

gelatinous zooplankton

Beroe and Bolinopsis
such strange invertebrate animals
with curious names

I confess
that when he surfaces

removes his camera
from its underwater housing
shakes off his diver’s mask

a sundog smiles in the clouds

when he drops
his definite article
in delightfully Russian style

I’m reduced
to a soft-bodied entity

a jellyfish caught in a strobe