Daniel Thomas Moran - The Swimming Lesson

Down at the tired shores
of Florence Ave. Beach,
an optimist in green trunks
was instructing us on
how to become swimmers.
We, a dozen or so
scrawny specimens on
an early summer day,
one o'clock sharp.
Up to our tiny thighs
in that oily chill.
We knew there
were secrets, that things
lived beneath it all.
We knew, as we stood,
within minutes
the sandy bottom
would swallow our feet.
Our young mothers
looked on from old blankets, ,
proud for unknown reasons.
Then the instructor said,
with great authority,
First thing we'll learn
is the dead man's float.
Some cried, but most tried
facing down
into the briny darkness.
We let the bubbles rise
back across our cheeks.
And we made believe
we had failed
to learn to swim.

2002 Daniel Thomas Moran

Daniel Thomas Moran

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-swimming-lesson/