Shark
Alex Acuff
I smell blood in the water.
At the corner store,
by the bar.
It makes my nose hairs tingle.
The blood is not red;
it is brown, like iron.
It pushes me to feast on my kill,
biting into the legs,
crunching down on crispy bones.
I’m a shark,
with all of my teeth,
smelling blood and perceived as mean,
misunderstood by those who don’t know my nature.
My own blood.
I didn’t choose this.
Fish eat fish,
man eats man.
We all smell something
that drives us to feast.
For me,
it will always be brown blood
in a vast blue ocean.
I am a shark.
Alex Acuff has an Associates in Arts from GTCC and is currently pursuing a BA in English from UNCG. He writes mostly plays and poetry. Some of his plays have been performed in South Africa, Australia, Costa Rica, as well as the United States. (www.offthewallplays.com) He also enjoys playing basketball and video games.