Learn to Swim

They lined up and dove in. Every one of them sunk like rocks.
Their eyes were red when they came up. They cried, I think, it was a pool of tears.
Choking. Breathing. Laughing.
She laughed a knowing laugh.

"If you stay in the shallow end you'll never learn to swim."
I don't live by the ocean and I don't enjoy the sea,
so what does your wisdom have to do with me?

I waited by the door but you already left, so I waded
in the water and took a deep breath. I unstrapped
the vest that protects my chest. I shut my eyes and plugged
my nose and pretended I was a balloon. Gravity wasn't pretending
and reality pulled me under. Flailing to float
and failing, my heart deflated. I gulped down
water not fit for drinking. Soon the sinking stopped.

My toes reached cool tile
and I thought that
this must be
how it feels
to walk on the moon.
Moments felt like minutes,
pushing toward the surface,
bouncing back to Earth.