Poetry (nonmonetized)
Sink or Swim (a Sepigram)
Response for the Poetry Writing Challenge
Inhale
Holding her nose, she dives right in,
plunging down, down, into the cool, dark ocean.
Inhale
A nervous mother waits with bated breath
for her daughter to break the water’s rippling
surface.
Exhale
Blowing salt spray from her mouth, smiling,
she emerges, exalted, waving back toward the shore.
Exhale
with relief, a soft sigh escapes her,
a sound of wonder, pride, and lingering fear.
She escapes the fear holding her back.
Exhale
bubbles rising up, up toward the sun,
lighting the way back to the water’s surface.
Exhale
that gnawing horror of her being taken,
swept out by a strong current, not swimming,
drowning.
Sinking
down again, a crashing white-tipped wave
pressing from above, a current pulling from below.
Sinking,
the mother’s heart drops into her belly;
a scream not heard over the rushing water.
Rushing, a mother crashing into the wave.
Sinking,
she is fighting, clawing her way upwards,
thin arms beating wildly against the current’s grasp.
Sinking,
diving past the break, she lunges down,
strong hands parting the sea, strong legs making
waves.
Swimming,
she finds equilibrium, rights herself and reorients,
sees the sun kaleidoscope through greenish seafoam: up.
Swimming
like she has never swum before this,
a test of her courage, fighting every instinct.
Strong hands grasp thin arms, swim up.
Swimming
together, mother and daughter emerge from below,
coughing up mouthfuls of salt water at once.
Swimming
toward shore, they collapse upon dry sand,
look toward each other and, without any hesitation,
laugh.
Laughing,
she wraps her daughter in a towel,
holds her close, to try to hide tears.
Laughing
away the panic, remembering the thrill again:
her will and might conquered the ocean.
She will try swimming again, once dry.
This poem was written in response to Ravyne Hawke’s poetry challenge to use the new form created by Cendrine Marrouat, the Sepigram. Find the rules for the contest and the poetry form in the posts linked below. Thank you Ravyne and Cendrine for inspiration and challenge: conforming to a strict poetry structure leads to some interesting results!
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