Oceanic Extremities | By Jason de Koff

The lagoon sipped simple syrup,

from the incoming tides,

and the marsh birds,

cried for their dinner.

The offshore breeze,

seasoned their meals with salt,

as the decaying detritus,

lent acid to their palates.

The tall grasses along the bank,

with their knife-like look and feel,

writhed with the ululations,

of fish burrowing at their feet.

Alligator eyes watched me from the water’s edge,

and its center, and its far side,

in a staring contest I was doomed to lose,

but yet still unable to look away.

If not for the change in tide,

I may have stayed fixated forever,

but the ocean’s heartbeat flow,

compelled me also to return back home.

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Jason de Koff is an associate professor of agronomy and soil science at Tennessee State University. He lives in Nashville, TN with his wife, Jaclyn, and his two daughters, Tegan and Maizie. He has published in a number of scientific journals, and has over 80 poems published or forthcoming in literary journals over the last year.