deep end

slick and sharp 

as a new needle, as a girl

I forced myself 

to jump feet first

incremental courage

nine feet, sixteen, thirty-three

pinching my nose

eyes clenched closed

belly coiling velocity

life rushed up stories

to swallow my inches

how we must live

stitching sky and water

to earth, back up for air

stitching us all together

we who don’t belong

to each other, miles 

of unknotted thread

trailing behind every dive

releasing the seam years 

and years behind me