For this story featuring Jaws. I wanted to create a situation where the roles seen in the film are switched. In this adaptation a group of sharks are in the sea doing what they do best and minding their own business when they are attacked by a human being who repeatedly comes again and again and won't go away. While poetry is not my thing, as I got started I felt that the poetry or rhythmic style seemed to work best in putting this story together. I hope it proves successful and that you enjoy reading it. Please review - Improvements and recommendations are always welcome. Now onto the disclaimer "Jaws" the novel is by Peter Benchley the first film is by Steven Spielberg. Rated T because of graphic descriptions of death.
The infinite blue of the oceans.
A vast mighty expanse of water.
The currents fast flowing, carrying us and the prey across far and wide.
Wherever we should desire to be.
Solitary are we as we navigate the currents, Family when we band together to dine.
Shoals of chewy fish, nutritious and fulfilling.
Fat blubbery seal, tasty and succulent.
An abundance of food.
This has been our home for centuries.
Dating from the times of the ancients Xenacanthus, Hybodus and Cladoselach.
Till the day, a new and powerful opponent came.
An adversary named man. An adversary from land. An adversary who would rise to be the next apex predator.
On a conch shell or refined ore it came leaving behind a long trail of white bubbly foam.*1
Four powerful limb that outmatched our fins, bearded and bald headed with two eyes,
a small eye which we could not see and a large eye with a bright red glow, an evil glow.*2
The predator came with a spear of refined ore, it speared his prey, a shark - then dragged him away - up, then to return to land.
The predator returned with his conch and spear, it speared his prey another shark -then dragged her away.
The predator came for the third time, it speared his prey, tore his dorsal - then tossed him back into the ocean to drown.*3
The predator came for the fourth time, it speared his prey, a young shark, then carried him away.
The predator came for the fifth, the sixth, the seventh time.
The predator came everyday, and each day he took a shark and carried it away.
And every other day he took a shark, cut it all up, took what he desired, then tossed it away back in the water.
Defenceless without their fins, our kith and kin sank to the ocean floor, to drown.*3
Mindless the predator was, What were we to it but insentience garbage to discard.
Did he not see our life, our pain, our family. Nay for all he was but a mindless killing machine driven by a sole purpose - to kill, to hate.
The predator came for the umpteenth time - enough was enough.
We said Nay. - Nay you shall not have you prey today.
Dwindling to our last, we fought back fast.
We bumped the predators conch till his spear fell out of his limb and slipped down deep, far away down, out of reach, to return to raw ore.*4
We shook the predators conch till capsize - Down into the deep the predator went, like our gutted brethren before it.
The predator floated to the surface. - Spear less and helpless he wallowed, we charged from all four.*5
We tore the predator's limb till there were none, we tore the predator's head till it drifted far and then descended to the murky depths - An evil red eye detached from its skull*2 Down to the bottom of the ocean we let it fall.
One day it shall return from refined ore to raw ore.*4
The predator became prey, the hunter the hunted, the torso sank to the ocean floor to be seen again no more.
It's flesh tasted all fowl, the pieces scattered about.
A large cloud of red billowed in the corpse's wake.
The colour of the predator's blood.
And now, the Predator was no more.
With the predator gone we departed to where we belong navigating the currents of our home. The vast expanse of water known as the ocean, dreading the day when more predators come.
Then came another day, we followed the trail that bloodied the water, the trail of dying tuna, the trail that would lead us to feed.
Here we encountered another conch*7, much larger, much bigger and more powerful than the last. - A conch that could not be tipped over.
The predator caught a shark and took her up, away from the water.
Carefully and tenderly it set her upside down ensuring she wouldn't dry.
It attached something to the tail, we know not, what.*6
Gently it then released our kin back into the water, too be let on their way.
And then we knew that it was not a predator, a man yes, a predator no.*7
Back to our world we then returned to heal and to feed and to pray that no predators would come.
Back to the mighty expanse of water.
Back to the infinite blue of the oceans.
Fin
Notes:-
*1 He came on a boat, leaving a large trail in its wake.
*2 Implies that this individual has a cybernetic eye likely with infrared capabilities
*3 Sharks are always constantly swimming. If their fin, most notably the dorsal fin is cut off they are defenceless and would drown.
*4 The spear fell out of the hunter's hand and sank to the bottom of the ocean where it would remain, till consumed by ocean dwelling life forms, bacteria and fungi. - Much of the oceans remain a repository to un-tapped minerals and ore. Sharks and other sea going creature may not be unfamiliar with this concept of raw ore which lies at the bottom of the ocean.
*5 We attacked from all directions.
*6 It tagged the shark so that their movements can be studied.
*7 The Boat is a Marine Biology Research Vessel. It is currently crewed by scientists who are trying to study sharks.