In the poem, “We Are Mermaids” by Stephanie Burt, different sets of pronouns in the form of ‘we, us, they, you,’ weave throughout the poem to involve the speaker, the audience, and others outside the stage of the text to invite them as a collective into the world of mermaids, a symbol for multitudes, and allows the collective to exist as they are. In the title of the poem ‘We Are Mermaids,’ those who fall under ‘we’ are gathered under the mermaid umbrella with ‘are’ emphasizing the action of simply being. Being a mermaid, like more oceanic ways of thinking, is not constrained to rigid structures that have been imposed on them by society and other terracentric ways of thinking. Instead, mermaids and any other aquatic creatures can occupy any space or even become a part of that space where fluidity and water is found. Whether this is at the bottom of the ocean where benthic water is found, or at the esturaries, where salty sea water and fresh water come together to create a brackish mix, a mermaid can come take up this space. The ‘you’ portions of this poem are particularly powerful and connect back to mermaids as an agent outside of the realm of humanity. The poem tells the reader that ‘you don’t have to be useful, you are not required to come up with something to say.’ In a terracentric world, a humans value originates from what they are able to perform and communicate to the rest of the world. This can be through labor, gender, and other social expectations and norms that make up daily life. However, the second half of the stanza negates and outright rejects this belief. Instead of a grueling day-to-day performance, which many people of marginalized lgbtq+ identities experience, as a mermaid, an individual can simply exist within the solitude and comfort of the sea.