Sara Beth Brooks

SELF PORTRAIT AS SEA SPONGE

i am a multi-cellular organism on a planet called Earth
i prefer clear water, even if it’s deep, especially if it’s deep.

as water filters through me, i receive required food & oxygen.
i have lots of pores, 5 million pores, & all of them

are salty. i am admired for all of my wonderous salty pores.
i am asexual & i am not sorry. i am an animal,

in an array of ecosystems, & i adapt
to my environments. some would even say i’m highly adaptive

in any habitat. i am 15 species that have useful applications, i am also
8,550 species that do not. it does not matter that most of me is not useful,

i am the richest & most bountiful source of potential in the sea.
potential for what? potential for anything. i can live on rocky

surfaces & also sand or mud. i can be the male & the female,
at the same time, & i love that about me. i grow

on coral reefs, with the sun shining on me, & i protect the reef
where fish can hide to mate. i can help you get clean

or get dirty. i can paint on walls. i am a pharmacy
with an unimaginable amount of medicine inside me.

i sometimes glow, all my cells alive & ringing at once. i am every
color of the rainbow. i may live for 200 years.