[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.]
My arm pulls,
the water resists.
8 1/3 pounds per gallon.
My arm lifts gracefully
through the air
and it flies,
always opposite,
as a windmill figurine
opposite and constant motion.
One pulls and resists,
one lifts and flies.
Fingers together,
hands cupped,
strong and graceful.
Legs kick frenetically,
a Sufi whirling in prayer,
effort hidden by ritual skirts.
Serene.
Sleek and wiry,
an otter at play.
Belly soft, awkward,
a seal in motion.
Movement on land no indication
of grace and beauty in water.
Where
All
Are
Equal
as equal as can be in this
most elite and elitist of sports.
White privilege reigns supreme
as biology and money conspire.
Politicians and budgets,
pools unsafe,
then closed.
Majestic wildebeest.
Magnificent and proud on land.
A river crossing,
a struggle without a safety net,
Victims too late glimpsed by outsiders.
Mothers in distress, helpless.
Crocodiles take advantage,
the different and young easy targets.
Hippopotamus, vegetarians by nature
feed on the misfortune
of the other.
Elephants stand.
Tall and Proud,
rally and comfort,
Standing Shiva with mothers in distress.
Inconsolable grief
beyond my privileged imagining.
We act as we view Mother Nature.
Cruel as we pick and choose.
We draw circles to separate
predator and prey.
We could choose a different path.
Free will an invitation
to learn to see cruelty in ourselves
as we see in Mother Nature.
Use our imagined superiority
as those tasked
guarding and rescuing.
Dolphins rally a downed sailor
dolphins a barrier between man and shark.
May I be as a leopard seal,
Ferocious.
Recognizing only the sameness,
the humanity in another.
My offering
the best I have,
an opportunity for the other.
Self sufficiency
a 'teachable moment'.
A wounded and captive bird.
Then a meal prepared.
The best I can give in my ignorance.
As a parent offers a meal.
As a teacher offers a lesson.
Met with reluctance,
then eager to learn.
The child is now an adult
eager to share.
An offering of love and refuge.
Resisting the system.
I revel in my privilege
knowing I bear great responsibility.
May I be a white face
obvious, in the front line.
May I live to tell the tale
some far day I've imagined,
my small effort a collaboration.
Obvious and subversive by turn
a part of a larger whole.
Each small step
hard won
defended
claimed
overcome
A system so changed
generations hence will wonder at
a struggle both archaic and irrelevant.
My arm pulls,
the water resists.
8 1/3 pounds per gallon.
My arm lifts gracefully
through the air
and it flies!
Today's swim complete.
One of many
as I prepare,
a larger and longer swim
my goal.
Author’s Note: Every April to celebrate Poetry Month, Writer’s Digest publishes a prompt a day. Water was my overarching theme for 2015. The First prompt and title of the poem is RESISTANCE.
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