Learning to Breathe
I.
I just learned how to swim.
I touch bottoms of deep pools,
six feet, seven, some
eight feet down
where worlds are always coudy,
bound.
II.
Pool tiles attract my skin
as magnets do
energy in the in-between
intimate and foreign
like gaps between lips,
top to bottom,
yours and mine, leaving
prints on fingertips,
the size of scars, a lash, a whip.
III.
In water, I am creature of the sea,
secreting secrets through simple strokes.
In water, I grow fins and
scales and shimmer in the light
in spite of airless lungs, i lunge,
without a set of gills, i lunge
into the depths, where
wounds are wombs in worlds,
cloudy, bound, like skin
twitching to a strange caress.
IV.
I did not just learn how to swim.
The water is a memory of faith,
that despite my airless lungs, I
can lunge and break
the surface, breathe again,
survive in gulps and glide
at bottom's depths, and live
without the fear that I
will drown.
V.
Water is a memory,
from mother earth we come not,
but from a whipping wave,
bound to mother sea.
___
This week's prompt at Poetry Thursday asked us to be true to our authentic selves. Up until this very moment, I always thought I would be victim to my periodic panic attacks and slight anxiety disorder. As odd as it may seem, swimming has helped me learn how to breathe - literally and figuratively. I can now control my breathing, both in the water and out, able to calm myself down successfully during an attack. Perhaps the weak and anxious girl I see in the mirror every morning is the facade my strong self carries. Maybe I was born a mermaid, and just neglected to flip my fins.
Labels: Poetry, Writing Prompts
10 Comments:
My fav line was the secreting secrets part. I liked the cadence of this poem very much...You kinda look like a mermaid to me!! Flip those fins!!
ahhHHH, a memory of faith, mother of the sea, very sweet poem! Isn't it a JOY to swim? The water is sooooo refreshing to the skin and our souls! xo
i like these notions of learning to swim. not learning to swim but forgetting how to drown, for we do indeed originate from the water.
thanks for your tip on my clunky ending. i decided to come and add you to my little list of poetry lovers - i see you have listed me! well, i'm honoured and surprised. ;o)
lovely poem, don't you just love the freedom of self when you are in the water, I think you are a lovely mermaid...thanks
oooh, i love it. i often dream of being able to breathe underwater and this poem really resonates with me. good on you for learning to swim. one of my friends is about to do just that and i'll be pointing her at your post. thanks
The poem's repeated sounds remind me of the lapping of waves...my favorite stanza is the last...what truth lies there.
Nicely done. The rhythm of the poem really feels like swimming. I too love to dive down deep when I swim.
i greatly appreciate your explanation at the end of the poem. this poem captures that beautifully. i love it.
on a personal note...because...well...poetry is always personal to me...i have a fear of deep water but i do enjoy having my body in the water...i felt like this poem spoke to that little part in me that wants not to be afraid, the part that loves to feel the water swirling around, almost inside my body.
Your poem is beautiful. I cannot swim and have had dreams where I swim wonderfully, without fear and I wonder about the connotations. I fell like swimming is very much like learning to trust and you captured that well.
This poem has an undulating motion to it, like the waves of the sea. Nicely done.
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