a poem.

Here is a poem I wrote (sort of, in my head), while swimming laps and laps.

While I'm Under

I feel so slick
As I slip in again.
While I'm under
It becomes clear that
I live in two worlds now
And who could tell which one came first?
For awhile I forget
That breathing doesn't involve water.
Only rhythms now; in's and out's
Left's and Right's
And so many numbers.
Down below, it is only patience,
And impatience.
It is pain,
And glory.
The pool is my enemy,
And it is my best friend.
After awhile I start to feel like a machine,
My arms never stop moving,
And I forget that I used to like air.
As light dances and slides along the bottom,
It's like little droplets of rain on my back
And I feel weird, like I'm watching
Through a camera.
It's so quiet and so loud all at once.
A voice somewhere above
Is all distorted, like an invisible hand
Is playing with the frequency and volume knobs
Somewhere.
It is saying, Go on, Go on
So I do.
I might want to stop...
But the water is
just
too
slick.