A Is For Axolotl: An Ecological Nonet Poem

I am Peter Pan in wonderland:

Yes, I am a salamander,

But I don’t metamorphose,

So I live in water.

Lake Xochimilco,

Floating gardens,

Chinampas,

Cover

Me.

Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chilco,

My wild Mexican habitat:

Chilco, first drained by Aztecs,

Now no longer exists;

Mexico City,

Sprawling nearby,

Grows over

My wet

Home.

Roasting me is a delicacy,

Xochimilco Canals now shrink,

Nonnative fish eat my young:

Extinction threatens me.

Model organism

I regrow limbs:

Learn from me.

Let me

Live.

Nonet comes into English by way of Italian and Latin. The Italian contribution is by way of the nonetto. It means “little ninth.” The pronunciation is “noh-NEHT-toh.” The Latin source is in the word nonus.

The term nonet has a number of applications. It may be found in the worlds of computer technology, nuclear magnetic resonancing, and particle physics. It also may be used in literature and in music.

In terms of literature, the nonet describes a poetic form which can be both specific and unspecific. For example, the nonet is very specific in describing the total number of lines. It in fact numbers only nine in all.

The nonet also is specific in terms of the number of syllables to appear on each poetic line. The first line must have nine syllables. The syllables decrease by one with each succeeding line. The number of the line therefore increases by the exact same number by which each syllabic total decreases: by one. The physical structure of the nonet therefore looks as follows:

• First line: 9 syllables

• Second line: 8

• Third line: 7

• Fourth line: 6

• Fifth line: 5

• Sixth line: 4

• Seventh line: 3

• Eighth line: 2

• Ninth line: 1.

Otherwise, the nonet has no other requirements. For example, a set metrical structure or rhyme scheme is not mandatory. The creator of the nonet therefore may have as little or as much meter and rhyme as are needed to support the emotion, imagery, language and philosophy of the poem.

The nonet similarly is accepting of subject matter. The nonet may have as subject matter or theme as few or as many as are needed to express the impulses and intents of its creator. Everything other than line count and syllable count and distribution therefore welcomes the personalized touch of the nonet-maker.

Ajolote is another name for the axolotl. Both names may be traced back to the axolotl’s country of origin, Mexico. Either way, the term literally means "water monster" in English.

In Mexico, the term axolotl observes the original name for the salamander in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica (Mēxihcah) founders of the Aztec Empire. Ancient terms such as axolotl reap the benefits of continued common use because of the multi-lingualism which characterizes many of Mexico's native populations even to this day. For example, modern speakers of Nahuatl refer to the salamander in question most often as axolotl, but sometimes as ajolote. The term ajolote respects the adaptation of the original Nahuatl word by the Spanish-speaking colonists of Mexico in the 16^th century.

The axolotl can be grouped among the salamanders. It has the look of a lizard what with its long tail, short nose and slim body. But it is not at all lizard-like in its moist skin and need for regular access to moist ground or water bodies.

The axolotl is totally non-lizard-like in another two regards. It makes no metamorphosis (Greek: μετα-, meta-, "change" + μορφή, morphe, "form") out of the larval (Latin: larvālis, "of or pertaining to a ghost," "specter-like") stage. It therefore remains true to its birth nature as an aquatic animal. It also retains its gills.

The gills of an axolotl in fact are located on the outside of the body. They therefore keep the axolotl from becoming an air-breathing amphibian. They in fact take the shape of three projecting pairs of stalks on either side of the axolotl’s head.

Each stalk associates with a gill slit behind the head. It can move if need be because it includes muscle tissue. It therefore can stir up stagnant water. Either way -- from flowing or stirred up water -- it then extracts dissolved oxygen for survival.The dissolved oxygen will be processed for internal body use by the many blood vessels within the fimbriae (Latin: "borders," "edges," "fringes" = thinly walled filaments) on each stalk.

The axolotl never gives up its water breathing or its watery habitats. In its native range, it strongly is associated with the lakes which supported the rise of Mexico City, capital of the Aztec Empire and of the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos). The lakes were five in number:

• Brackish watered lakes:

1. Lake Texcoco (lago salado de Texcoco)
2. Lake Xaltocan (lago salado de Xaltocan)
3. Lake Zumpango (lago salado de Zumpango)

• Fresh watered lakes:

1. Lake Chalco (lago de Chalco)
2. Lake Xochimilco (lago de Xochimilco)

The lakes to which the axolotl is specific are Chalco and Xochimilco. Lake Chalco no longer exists. Its slow decline and ultimate demise started with the Spanish succession to politico-economic control over the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México) in which Mexico City is located.

Chinampa (Nahuatl: Chināmitl, “square made of canes”) agriculture is associated historically with the fresh water lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco. It often is translated as “floating gardens” in English. The English phrase reflects the artificial island nature of built-up crop beds.

Specifically, the pre-Mexica inhabitants in the area of the freshwater lakes identified rectangular growing areas on the shallow lake bed. They would build wattle fences within which decaying plants, mud and sediment were layered. The fenced-in areas ultimately would rise above the shallow water levels of lakes Chalco and Xochimilco.

The floating gardens measured around 100 x 8 feet (30.48 x 2.44 meters). Trees, such as the Bonpland willow (Salix bonplandiana) and the Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum), served as above-surface boundary markers of each floating island. The channels between each floating island were of sufficient width to accommodate canoes.

Regeneration of body parts is the second surprising characteristic of the axolotl. Vertebrates in general and lizards in particular lack this typical salamander capability of the axolotl. Parts which go missing through the accidents and aggression of daily survival regenerate within months if the affected organism is a salamander in general and an axolotl in particular.

Specifically, the axolotl can regenerate missing body parts in their entirety. The axolotl sometimes mixes minor repairs with complete regeneration. For example, it may get a wounded limb back to working order and give it a completely regenerated back-up limb in anticipation of repeated accidents or aggression. It even may regenerate missing parts of their brains.

Additionally, the axolotl accepts transplants. For example, it can receive transplants of brain parts and eyes. It will incorporate the transplant as completely and harmoniously as though the axolotl had been born with the transplant already in place instead of subsequently in substitution.

There indeed is a lot to learn from the able, accomplished, adaptable, affable, amiable, attractive, awesome axolotl of Mexico.

My special thanks to:

• The axolotl for its brave continued existence and for its generous reminder of ancient cultures and of elusive mysteries such as body part regeneration;
• All individuals and organizations that care about and for the axolotl;
• Talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the Internet;
• Virginia State University and Polytechnic Institute for the high caliber of its Carol M. Newman Library collection of books on the environment and on poetry and the analysis and criticism of poetry as well as of its online resources regarding the environment and wildlife conservation and resources.

Armstrong, John B., and George M. Malacinski (Eds.). Developmental biology of the axolotl. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Subotnick, Morton. Axolotl; the wild beasts. Los Angeles: Nonesuch Records, c1981.

Copyright Saturday, December 17, 2011 by Derdriu