Creature from the Black Lagoon

            Universal International Pictures, 1954

--Ace Boggess

Past midnight watching Chiller Theater,

I waited for the Gill Man,

so vividly green in black & white:

his wide eyes, webbed hands

like bat wings glued to a Louisville Slugger.

Back then, I didn’t understand the plot,

why he lived in the Black Lagoon,

why scientists brought rifles.

I knew they were chasing him,

as he them, & Julia Adams—

sex goddess in paste-white

bathing suit—became his plaything

for a while. Yet why did they spear him?

Why poison the water with chemical bombs?

He was a possible outcome

for survival of the fittest if the fish had won.

Besides, who doesn’t seek out

the most beautiful girl at the party,

grunting, making a beast of himself, &

what cruel heart won’t forgive a monster in love?