Responsible for an itchy rash called seabather’s eruption, the tiny larvae of Linuche unguiculata…
Your prompt is THIMBLE JELLYFISH.
Discharged in death throes
Stinging barbs embed in flesh
Avoid the water
… get caught in hair and underneath swimwear, discharging their nematocysts as they are crushed to death.
Crushed in the knowledge
That your only legacy
Is irritation
Polyps of renewal, burst
ghosts of protoplasm sacs -
a sting to feel you live.