Mr. Hall
The alligators
nipped my toes
while I learned to swim.
But the teeth
felt like fingers,
and with time
the predators
returned to their form
as ants,
that my instructor
embellished.
Soon I learned
to cross the sterile pool,
but then knew
that no river
or moat
or ocean channel
would ever contain me
again.
-Robert L. Jackson III
I love this. Once we cross that divide, we know we can never again be contained. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteVery inspiring
ReplyDeleteI'm confused by the word "sterile," but maybe you mean it as positive? I first got a picture of leaving the wild and swimming in a chlorine pool. On second reading, I bless an instructor who reduced dangers to their proper size, allowing the narrator to gain independence! (Still, I wouldn't swim in a pool with alligators! Ants, yes. Spiders, maybe.)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, but I don't think most ants know how to swim? So I am also confused, but love the ideas of those little "blue eyes," with their little life jackets, swimming and biting toes. Learning to swim is a feat to be proud of, for sure! A boy that can swim will not be contained!
ReplyDeleteI, too, am a bit confused by the sterile pool, but applaud your getting to the far side and independence!
ReplyDeleteYes, this is true independence!
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant poem of independence, being strong enough to deal with the most fiersome opposition to assert yourself.
ReplyDeleteVery clever expression of independence
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome ... especially the second line, where I first misread "nippled." :)
ReplyDeleteLove how fear of water gradually fell off letting the narrator taste independence and taking him to the boundless.
ReplyDeleteSwimming is the ultimate freedom experience in life.You cannot fly naturally like a bird but you can swim like a fish.We have sharks instead of alligators nipping at our feet....unfortunately it has become only too real now since it had been made illegal to cull them:)
ReplyDeleteyour instructor had a vivid imagination that was passed on during your swimming lessons! I loved the watery flow of the poem and the way the images transformed over time
ReplyDeleteExcellent piece.
ReplyDelete