To Escape

Poem by Eleanor Kristan

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Doing laps,
Syncopated crawl strokes,
Strained butterfly motions,
Double dolphin kicks,
Breaststrokes.
All gangly legs and arms,
I glide just below the surface.
Pool water sloshes cerulean. 
To one side then the other.
Powerful motion heading to an unknown crescendo,
Wave after wave smacks siding
Between the laps I count.
I forgot the number now.
Under water,
Sweet turns bitter.
I drink the notes.
I freestyle towards one end,
Curl into a somersault,
Touch a sidewall with one foot and then the other.
I swallow the lap number,
Rocket into stillness.
I hear a voice above.
I sense too much.
I drive down to the bottom.
At the deepest end I close the world and the words out.
Alkaline and calcium hardness become a new skin.

Eleanor Kristan is a high school student with a keen interest in writing and reading poetry. She lives in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, and is inspired by her environment when writing poetry.