“You don’t have to be use-

ful. You are not required 

to come up with something to say

You can spend your life benthic, or brackish,

subsisting and even thriving where a fingertip

comes away saline and still refreshing, 

exploring the estuary, the submerged lip 

and congeries of overlapping shores 

on the green-black water, the harbor, the bay. 

You can live with your doubt, 

and that’s why it’s yours.”

I like this second half of the poem. The idea of not having to be useful, not having to say something when prompted, feels very different than how our Western society operates. There is a lot of pressure to be useful, to contribute and make a meaningful impact on society, but this poem presents the idea that nature, in its purest form, does not feel these pressures. If we are truly part of nature, then why do we feel these pressures to perform, to contribute, to be useful. It is also interesting when she says “you can live with your doubt, and that’s what it’s yours”. I wonder what this doubt is. Is it about how society works? Is it about the existence of mermaids? Is it commenting on the general state of worry our country lives in? But it also makes the doubt personal, through the use of the word ‘your’, and the following line of “that’s why it’s yours”. It’s yours because doubt is a subjective experience, based on belief systems and experiences. 

There is also a strong use of imagery in the second stanza of this quote. It transports the reader to a place where they are the being underwater, giving the reader a glimpse into what it would be like to be an aquatic being, with no worries or pressure to be useful. Instead, they are simply exploring their surroundings, being one with nature.