Mermaid Empath

She swims into bracken thoughts
down the centre of where two hemispheres
synapse scooping up night terrors
before they take hold
the way blue-faced monkeys
            collect lichen off a tree.

She selects arms of antenna
plucking roots of dismal imagery
in your hippocampus
a place where they echo strange
       &nbsp dolphin frequencies
       &nbsp blooming dark stories
              sprouting legs like tadpoles

She stuffs pink jellyfish
deep into her ears
keeping in all the minutia
      &nbsp of fright
         &nbsp screaming
            until her mouth hangs loose