Geology Tank Surprise


from the ABC set Observations of the Sixth Form College

During the last half hour
Of my covered geology lesson
I thought the fish look hungry
In their mouldy looking tank

At first I could not find the tub
Of smelly flake food that they ate
The fish left include Deb and Flo
Who hungrily pick through the slimy gravel bottom

So I lifted the lid to a flurry of life
And scattered the foul feast into the murky depths
It felt a little oily between my fingertips
The Kraken was missing

I guess I was somewhat worried
That he too had passed away
His home was swallowed up in thick weedy tentacles
Much unlike his slender grey-white ones

And then I noticed it
There was a tendril poking around the corner
On the far side of the take
It had no tip but it was him

As I peered between the rocks
He scooted out
But something else in the dark
Ensnared my eye

It was today that I found the new creature
“A shrimp!” I cried like an excited child. “Look! There’s a shrimp!”
And indeed there was one
Lurking in the bowls of the geology room tank

He was on odd crustacean
I will say that much
With surprising orangey-peach pincers and a bluish shell
His names was immediately Jacques

Where we had lost Bubbles, and more recently Nemo
Another character was embodied
From the latter’s eponymous film
Despite his opposite appearance

Before now I have heard Sir mention a shrimp
Only once though, and we never saw him
Hiding in his rock cave near the door
Still, we know that he exist now

Living, and not amongst the dead.

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