Clover Jené Mermaid is many things. Vampire. Fairy. Mermaid. Entrepreneur. Leader. Friend.
But, in the humble opinion of this writer, her greatest achievement is seizing freedom by the tail to transform her own life into what she’s always believed it to be, despite anyone else’s inability to see it. She has always been a magical being, as she will tell you, she just hadn’t manifested the tail, or the wings. In her words, we’re all capable of putting on those pieces of ourselves. We already possess them. All that’s missing is the leap.
Clover works professionally as a mermaid, a job that allows her to entertain children and adults alike, looking for a bit of magic in their everyday lives. Her journey back to her tail is a reminder that you’ll surely find your truest self, you’ll seize your dreams, when the time is right if you only heed the call.
LaKase: What is your relationship with Fantasy? What awakened your passion for the fantastical?
Clover: So, besides Fantasy, I love Horror. I like to tell people if there’s not some monster in the movie, it’s not likely I’m going to like it, because I feel like reality is already serious enough. I do watch some reality, like realistic shows, but, listen, my life is full. I know what the drama consists of. I wish I had some magical powers, so I watch a lot of stuff with magical powers. I would say, of course, as far as my mermaid life started, most people say The Little Mermaid, some people say Splash. You notice most mermaids take a picture in a bathtub, it must be done [laughs]. That’s where that comes from, but definitely with The Little Mermaid and her wanting to be here and me wanting to be there. And then also just the grander meaning behind her desires and wants. I also really love not just movies, but books as well. I really love African Sci-Fi, that is what I call it.
LaKase: One of the first “big girl” purchases I made at Barnes Noble was Kindred by Octavia E. Changed my world.
Clover: I started with Dawn. I like to read, but I never really found anything that I was like “I liked this!” I started noticing that my stories are all overlapping. But, I love African Sci-Fi. That is my number one genre for reading.
My Dad, when I was about 14, we went to San Francisco. We used to go to all kinds of little different places for business for him. My parents are business owners, also. We’re roaming around San Francisco and walked into this one shop. There was mermaid stuff, and I turned to my dad and said, “Dad I wish I was a mermaid.” Naturally, of course, there wasn’t one Black mermaid in the store.
He looks me straight in my face and says, “You already are.”
It started before then, but that definitely solidified it. I call everybody, if they want to be a mermaid, I call them “naked mermaids.” You just need the tail.
During the pandemic, when it really hit my business, I had to close my store. As a massage therapist, you can’t touch anybody, or be scared to death. So, I had a lot more time, and I started looking. I’ve always, always seen the girls in the tails, and I always thought they were all silicone tails. Those tails might cost over five-thousand dollars. I finally did some research and found out that there were fabric tails that existed and you can buy the cheap ones, or you can buy the nice ones. I bought a cheap one and a nice one. I bought a few other fins. I go in, and realize this just feels so right.
Read the rest of Clover’s story in Issue 2, available now!
