When you live in a rapidly moving swirl,

you can only view your surroundings with a

glance. Poetry requires us to slow down, to
take time to pause.
Naomi Shihab Nye, Academy of American Poets Chancellor

Vestiges
A. Van Jordan, 1965

I would like to swim in the Atlantic,

to swim with someone who understood
why my fear of drowning plays less dire

than my fear of bones, walking the ocean floor.

I would like to sync my stroke with a beloved.
Id like to stand on deck on a boat

and jump in the sea and say, follow me,

and know you would. The sea is cold
and its deep, too, Id joke,

standing at the edge of the boats bow.

A wind breathes across the sea,
joining gently the edges of time.

With a dog paddling behind me,

I want to crawl across the water
without thinking about a future.

I have set my eyes upon the shore

and I hold you theresteady, in focus
but let you go when, from below,

a voice breaks to the surface..