The Oyster

The Oyster is a harmless soul who lives beneath the changing tides.

Keeping to itself it takes no sides, feeding quietly where its secret hides.

But no longer, for we say that some are ‘blessed’,

When a speck of grit fouls its silvery nest.

Our Earth is as the Oyster’s life, for commercial gain has plundered its wealth,

And we take it with greed, much more than we need, at the expense of its finite health.

And like the caged hen, whose last stolen egg ascertains it will soon be plucked,

The oyster is attacked by a feverish hand as we comically say it is ‘shucked’.

Yet, another word often springs to mind, which careless people use,

Sometimes to joke or curse or randomly say . . . and sometimes to hurl abuse.

But I will save it for our future world, which now shares a common fate.

For “The world is my oyster” as they say and yet we consume both at an extravagant rate.

Reading by Digital AMY:

(from my poetry book: “Frames of Poetry” – available Amazon, Kindle, Google Books)

26-Mar-2026
Seashell saviors: discarded #oyster shells can clean polluted #water by removing #rareEarths
That makes sense, return your #seaShells to the sea ...
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1121591

#science #ecology #environment #pollution #foodWaste

RE: https://scicomm.xyz/@dantheclamman/116196703399022292

How do #animals #aggregate?#Mites can find each other based on #pheromones, while #sight is important for herd-forming #mammals. In #marine #habitats, #hearing plays a major role. D.McAfee et al.(2022) showed that #oyster #larvae react to the #soundscape of a healthy #reef via #statocysts in front of their bodies, thus finding their adult conspecifics for #reefformation. Reef formation can be artificially #stimulated via artificial #soundwaves.
©#StefanFWirth 2026
Ref
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14307