…and this is a 
Cephalart
Category: Art • Cephalopods
Posted on: August 11, 2007 6:00 AM, by PZ Myers
Graphic-intensive collection of pretty pictures below the fold: beware.
Cephalopod poetry also counts as art.
By Algernon Charles Sin-Burn
Strange beauty, eight-limbed and eight-handed,
Whence camest to dazzle our eyes?
With thy bosom bespangled and banded
With the hues of the seas and the skies;
Is thy home European or Asian,
O mystical monster marine?
Part molluscous and partly crustacean,
Betwixt and between.Wast thou born to the sound of sea trumpets?
Hast thou eaten and drunk to excess
Of the sponges -- thy muffins and crumpets,
Of the seaweed -- thy mustard and cress?
Wast thou nurtured in caverns of coral,
Remote from reproof or restraint?
Art thou innocent, art thou immoral,
Sinburnian or Saint?Lithe limbs, curling free, as a creeper
That creeps in a desolate place,
To enroll and envelop the sleeper
In a silent and stealthy embrace,
Cruel beak craning forward to bite us,
Our juices to drain and to drink,
Or to whelm us in waves of Cocytus,
Indelible ink!O breast, that 'twere rapture to writhe on!
O arms 'twere delicious to feel
Clinging close with the crush of the Python,
When she maketh her murderous meal!
In thy eight-fold embraces enfolden,
Let our empty existence escape,
Give us death that is glorious and golden,
Crushed all out of shape!Ah! thy red lips, lascivious and luscious,
With death in their amorous kiss,
Cling round us, and clasp us, and crush us,
With bitings of agonised bliss;
We are sick with the poison of pleasure,
Dispense us the potion of pain;
Ope thy mouth to its uttermost measure
And bite us again!
Comments
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/photospecials/graph/020701ice/3.html
Posted by: schnook | August 11, 2007 6:11 AM
I want that pen... badly...
Posted by: Dan | August 11, 2007 8:14 AM
The forth one down's a pen? Oh....
You know, I really thought it was something else.
Posted by: Hypatia | August 11, 2007 9:37 AM
Thomas Abdul Al-Kincade: Painter of Madness
Posted by: RCP | August 11, 2007 10:13 AM
I like the top one... it appears to be a Thomas Kinkade gone wrong... err, right!
Posted by: DaveX | August 11, 2007 10:20 AM
(.)(.)
Posted by: wÒÓ† | August 11, 2007 10:22 AM
RCP-- Great minds think alike...
Posted by: DaveX | August 11, 2007 10:24 AM
Have you seen Ursulav's other cephalart? (Ursulav, aka Ursula Vernon, did the squid bra).
Posted by: Heather Kuhn | August 11, 2007 10:36 AM
More cephalart, from me (shameless plug):
Various Cephalarts
The Kleptoctopus
Posted by: Meg | August 11, 2007 10:44 AM
you forgot the immortal Ogden Nash poem:
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus;
If I were thou, I'd call me Us.
Posted by: Rugosa | August 11, 2007 11:14 AM
I'll add another shameless plug to yours, Meg.
http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com/2007/05/ammonite-vs-trilobite.html
http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com/2007/03/1st-critique-of-my-trilobite-drawing.html
Of course, usually mine have a lot more trilobites than cephalopods...
Posted by: The Flying Trilobite, fcd | August 11, 2007 11:15 AM
Curse you for showing me that pen, PZ. Do you know how insanely difficult it is to justify buying a pen that costs between $3,750 and $18,000?!?
Does anyone want to buy a kidney?
Posted by: Dan | August 11, 2007 12:06 PM
There's also this cheerful octopus in Madison, Wisconsin. There's one at each entrance of the Octopus Car Wash. One is visible from the highway, whence it got my attention. It rotates, and I have a video clip, but have not uploaded it to YouTube yet.
http://monado2.blogspot.com/2007/07/friday-cephalart-octopus-car-wash.html
Posted by: Monado | August 11, 2007 12:48 PM
Heather Kuhn, there are a couple more:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/15888193/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/8042152/
Posted by: Mena | August 11, 2007 10:04 PM
That's . . . a . . . spectacular . . . poem.
Somebody just made my day.
Posted by: Kyra | August 13, 2007 3:00 PM
Also, love the mouse-over comments, PZ! I want the pen too. Have to stick with Bics until my student loan is paid off, though . . . Sigh.
Posted by: ctenotrish, FCD | August 13, 2007 4:15 PM