Shark

In the thick dark I nose
toward the salt-smelling blood. It goes

swimming in all directions when I bite.
Above is the too-bright

where steel-fin moves from thin
to thick and back again.

It is the quickest swimmer I've seen.
The slowest blood stays close to sand, in the green-

tinted thin where the bottom stays lit.
Sometimes I get a taste of it.

Copyright © 2009 Heather Hamilton All rights reserved
from Subtropics
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission