breathing stroke rhythms
When I’m swimming across Lake Nokomis during open swim club during the summer, I often vary how many strokes I swim before I breathe. Sometimes I breathe every 5 strokes. Sometimes I breathe every 5, then 6, or 3, then 5. Later, I like turning these stroke counts into syllables for short poems about swimming.
five/six/three/five
Not slow but steady
rhythmically slicing through
the blue brown
water in the lake
Something cold then warm
cold again thick then thin
never clear
always distorted
Learning to be blind–
or not blind, low vision–
focus gone
approximate shapes
In water senses
are strange perception off
images
are jumbled broken
The source of sound is
everywhere then nowhere
close then far
sharp loud muffled soft
every five
Catch pull push release
five times then a breath
three/six/three/six
powerful
strong shoulders and straight strokes
jubilant
generous lungs stay filled
five/six/five/six
swimming little loops
well–not little loops but
loops that are smaller
than loops across the lake
“welcome!” says water
“join us!” cry out the fish
“hello!” calls the bird
perched on the white buoy