17 Degrees

Image borrowed from Bing

17 Degrees


It’s really nice when 17 degrees is the latitude,
not the temperature in Fahrenheit.

And it’s equally nice when the color of the sea water
is exactly the neon electric shaved ice blue,
as viewed from a little boat that returned me
from a morning of snorkeling
off the coast of St. Croix
with schools of exotic, colorful,
and clearly quite well educated fish.

Gliding between the canyons of shallow reefs
and tons of brain coral, I came upon
an impressive herd of barracuda, who gathered
in a beautifully intimidating group of six
and from whom I kept a respectful distance
of a few yards, lest my brain, and body,
be unexpectedly schooled
in the ways of the territorial wild.

Alex Shapiro

Posted over on her site Notes From the Kelp