Beach Dangers

The weather—perfect,

but there’s trouble in the water:

sharks, Portuguese men-of-war,

and rip currents.

Men-of-war

are washing ashore,

their stings, very painful,

worse than jellyfish.

Sharks

are scarier. Look out for

fins in the water,

sharks in waist-deep water.

Rip currents,

a great danger to swimmers,

a serious problem, swimmers

caught in rip currents.

All week

one challenge after another:

stinging creatures, sharks, and

powerful currents.

Enjoy the beach—

from the sand.

I’ll do my swimming in a pool, thank you very much.

© Catherine Giordano 2012

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