Swimming Poem
By Ross Gillett
Published 21 March 2025
the poem isn’t sure
about its body
maybe its left arm is imaginary
its legs an illusion
its torso
hallucinatory heaviness in the water
all it can know for certain
is a right arm
wheeling across the horizon
sweeping through the water beneath it
and that might be it
maybe the poem is a mind with one arm
moving around in a circle
it mistakes for linear progress
yes there would appear to be eyes to see with
and a mouth for air
but neither are visible
the presumption of a face might be fantasy
all the poem knows
is its close horizon
a few square inches of something like ocean
an air-filled space that might be a bit of sky
and an arm dragging its dream of a body
through the endless waters of the poem’s life