Holding My Breath

My parents had a swimming pool.

I sank in the deep end for quiet.

I took deep breaths, escaping the news:

King’s murder, and Watt’s racial riots.

Now and then I blew bubbles,

Sometimes surfacing for air…

The neighbor thought me athletic,

He was completely unaware.

The deep end was my sanctuary

From my father and the world above.

It was also where I cried in private…

Rejected by the one I loved.

The teenage years were crippling,

I saw my life as traits I lacked…

My fate decided on a phone call,

Where the receiver didn’t call back.

I swam the length of my parent’s pool,

Under water, holding my breath…

One by one my demons drowned,

Until no anxieties were left.