Mona

Lying in bed
on my back and
listening to my
neighbors bicker
overhead in the
most vulgar way,
I derive consolation
from the fact
that somewhere
in the North Atlantic
or South Atlantic
or East Atlantic,
fathoms deep but
not far away
there swims a
Great White
Shark---not
yet extinct and
certainly not
gentrified---
just swimming,
swimming in
cold, clean
waters---its
white belly
tissue soft but
icy, its black
eyes shifting
like ball-
turrets, the
corners of
its untroubled
mouth curved
upward ever
so slightly---
a Mona
Lisa
smile.