Octopus Poem: The Kraken by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

"The Kraken" first appeared in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical. By Alfred Tennyson. London: Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, Cornhill, 1830.

Octopus Poem: I'm Wrestling With an Octopus

I'm wrestling with an octopus
and faring less than well,
one peek at my predicament
should be enough to tell.
It held me in a hammerlock,
then swept me off my feet,
I'm getting the impression
that I simply can't compete.

I'd hoped that I could hold my own,
but after just a while,
I ascertained I couldn't match
an octopus's style.
It flipped me by a shoulder,
and it latched onto a hip,
essentially that octopus
has got me in its grip.

I tried assorted armlocks,
but invariably missed,
and now I'm in a headlock,
and it's clinging to my wrist.
It's wound around my ankles,
and it's wrapped around my chest—
when grappling with an octopus,
I come out second best.


--Jack Prelutsky, from A Pizza the Size of the Sun, 1996

Octopus Poem: Pirouette of the Octopus

It has come to my attention that there has been a sore lack of poetry on Everything Octopus. I think it's time to change that! Here's a poem written by Lisa Bergman, after her passion for octopuses was awakened by PBS's "The Octopus Show".

Your arms outstretch-
A radiant star bursting in the ocean.
A gymnast in waters-
Such elegance and power!
Your mysterious intelligence
Excites the curiosity.
From the deepest oceans to the shallowest streams
I know your dances I always will see.

If only all could know
Your beauty, strength, and mind
And see the works of God's hands in you
Right before their very eyes.

-- Lisa Bergemann, 2001