Duplex: Ebb & Flow

Her son harvests oysters, smells like low tide.
Seagulls drop oysters on rocks to open them.

Seagulls eat oysters, drink sea water on the rocks.
She drinks seltzer & toes the seaweed-lined shore.

She listens to the seagulls, the undertow of their cacophony.
She listens to their set list of yodels, yuk-yuks, & ha-ha-ha’s.

She listens to her husband’s silence, reaches for his hand.
Do you know seagulls are monogamous & mate for life, she asks.

Monotonous & stale—other words that might roll off her tongue.
A seagull dive bombs for scraps, craps on an abandoned towel.

She makes a note: male seagulls lift their legs to piss & shit.
She makes another: her husband always lowers the toilet lid.

It costs a small fortune to lease a tidal marsh.
Her son harvests oysters, smells like low tide.

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Jennifer Litt is the author of the chapbook, Maximum Speed Through Zero (Blue Lyra Press, 2016) and the full-length poetry collection, Strictly from Hunger (Accents Publishing, 2022). Jennifer’s work has appeared in several publications, including Gulf Stream, Jet Fuel Review, Lumina, Naugatuck River Review, nycBigCityLit, South Florida Poetry Journal, Stone Canoe, and Witchery. She lives in Fort Lauderdale with her cat Tiger Lily and works part-time as a freelance editor.