From WTP Vol. V #4

Tropics
By Brandon Marlon

Ships furrow the waters out at sea
while civilization’s refugees
anneal on the beach,
their pestering cares a world away.

By the quay a lone stevedore ignores
heat and thirst, dragging hawsers
along the towpath to moor crafts
gently yet securely, his funicular expertise
accrued over many seasons in austral regions.

Below the surface, migrating turtles pause
to munch on seagrass meadows
rich in essential nutrients
while lemon sharks chase rays
through the mangrove’s red roots
growing in tidal shores and deluged
twice daily with saltwater.

Aloft the torrid orb parches
equally, the clime’s merciless overlord
punishing by its very presence,
conferring both favor and wrath,
defiantly resisting twilight till
the decisor nightfall settles the struggle.

Brandon Marlon’s work has appeared in over 175 publications in twenty-four countries, including The Trinity Review, Badlands Literary Journal, Nostalgia Press, Poetry Quarterly, PIN Quarterly Journal, Publishers Weekly, and So It Goes: The Literary Magazine of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library.