Circle of Light

The students and I drift
out of our single file
during the night snorkel,

torches off, circle up
clasp hands, lean back
and fin kick to stir

fire algae into frothy
bioluminescence. We
hold tight yet strain

apart, apt metaphor
for human ties as I
tilt back for the brighter

light shed by the drenched
night sky’s stream
of stars.

 

Poem by O. Alan Weltzien

 

O. Alan Weltzien, a newly retired English professor in Montana, has published two chapbooks and ten books. These include a memoir, “A Father and an Island” (2008), and three poetry collections, most recently “Rembrandt in the Stairwell” (2016). Weltzien lacks a website and tries not to feel shame about that. These three poems were inspired by a recent class trip to Belize.