The Twelfth Escape
in which Gilda Sheen emerges from the tank, Girlarium
at and imprisons her keeper Joseph Q. Youmans of The
Aquariums at Anemone.
Clamber up flesh dangling from the high hatch —
his knuckles straighten, only nails catch. Your
adrenaline spurs — drop him fast. Spring, scratch
surface, dry — the distance seemed so vast for
those months marooned beneath his room.
Emerge emboldened from your salt water
tomb. Looming fleetingly over the doomed
Svengali swimming savagely, squatter
in some artificial sea he designed
even its winding lock. You turn it twice.
Shake yourself from shock. Servants soon will find
you here, uncaged inside a paradise
from which you must disappear with haste—
a twelfth chance for escape you will not waste.
