Dave White’s Sea Creatures (May 15, 2024) and Kiana Jimenez’s A World in Gray create a striking juxtaposition of inner and outer worlds—an exploration of how external vibrance can clash with internal numbness.

The illustration teems with life. A diver drifts among sharks, turtles, and squids, surrounded by hues of blue, coral, and green. The ocean brims with energy, movement, and possibility. Yet the diver seems detached, an outsider suspended in the water rather than part of its rhythm. The marine world thrives, but the figure remains disconnected, echoing a deeper estrangement.

The poem A World in Gray gives voice to this dissonance. It speaks from within the numbness, where joy has drained, love songs fall hollow, and even the self is masked to conceal emptiness.

“Colors drained from my eyes,
Every light inside me has died.”

Together, the illustration and poem form a layered metaphor. The shark mirrors the circling presence of sorrow, a predator always near. The squid’s curling tentacles symbolize entanglement—the way depression ensnares and refuses to let go. The turtle, ancient and enduring, becomes a subtle emblem of resilience, a reminder that survival is still possible in waters of despair.

The irony is clear: the ocean, symbol of freedom and expansiveness, becomes a mirror of entrapment when filtered through the lens of inner struggle. Even amid vibrancy, the speaker feels adrift—unable to connect, unable to escape the grayness within.

This pairing reminds us that depression does not always appear as darkness alone. Sometimes it is the absence of connection to light, a silence that endures even when surrounded by life’s song.