Swim Alone
By Lisa C. Krueger
He clings to her while other boys
play Marco Polo. A year of lessons,
this is what she gets?
She wants to lie in the sun.
Enough, she says, loosens her arms,
releases him. The boy winces at light
bouncing off water. He grasps at her,
where he thinks she is, but feels blind.
He decides to drown for his mother.
Just this morning he breathed only when
she breathed, laughed when she laughed.
Before he goes under he hears one boy
catch another: My eyes were closed!
His cries, underwater, make bubbles
that rise like loose balloons.
He watches his mother’s legs
move away. Out of breath, he swims
toward empty blue.
Copyright Credit: Lisa C. Krueger, "Swim Alone" from Run Away to the Yard. Copyright © 2017 by Lisa C. Krueger. Reprinted by permission of Red Hen Press.
Source: Run Away to the Yard (Red Hen Press, 2017)