I really enjoyed reading this poem because it forced me to reconsider the way that society tells us we have to live. The use of the ocean in this poem creates a peaceful image that encourages readers to slow down in their lives and not feel pressured to be as on the go as society tells us we need to be. The stanza that starts with “You can spend your life benthic, or brackish,” created this image of existing underwater and when I think of being underwater, I think of how quiet everything gets. There is no noise from cars or people, just the sounds of the ocean which are calming. In the ocean, there is only nature and the natural cycles of life. There is nothing that would show “success” in the eyes of society. This stanza made me consider how society puts pressure on us to be successful, but who gets to decide what being successful looks like? Maybe for one person success looks like being content with their life and for another person, it looks like having a certain lifestyle.

The third stanza also made me think of society’s rules or expectations. There is a very specific timeline that society tells us that we need to achieve certain milestones by and this stanza challenges that. The lines that say “sacrificing their poise for their careers, / need not be the only mode of living” make the reader think of their life beyond what society encourages. Working is important and necessary, but there is more to a person’s life than their career. These lines emphasize the need to not sacrifice so much of your life for something that does not reward or fulfill you. We are not bound by the limits that society places on us and this poem reminds readers of that.