Green Flash

The yacht swung easy at anchor

off the Dry Tortugas.

So clear, the horizon wrapped

around us like the sharp rim

of a bowl, sky cover clouded

only by birds.

When it fell too low

to hurt, I focused binoculars

on the sun

as the Gulf Stream put it out,

the blood-red eye slowly lidded

from below by blue water.

This time I didn't blink

when the last hot tear slid off.

Nothing.

Then green! A pulse

of emerald. One coil

of the great sea dragon

lifted flashing

from the deep.

This poem also appears in Woessner's recent collection Clear All the Rest of the Way: New and Selected Poems, 1987–2007 from The Backwaters Press (2008).