Drowning with Others

by Linda Keir

“You have to learn to tamp down your desire for literal certainty and let the words of a poem roll around in your head.

With the revelation of his whereabouts, Andi felt like a little mole she’d had forever had suddenly risen and turned black.

Anthropomorphize nature, Dallas once said. It brings human understanding to that which is beyond our comprehension.

“Beneath the beautiful calm, turmoil and storms lurk,” he said.

Andi took his words like a blow. She looked around the room at the furnishings they’d chosen together, trying to ground herself in the familiar present but finding everything strange.

“Careful you don’t drown in that.” She drinks, laughs, turns on her heel Her voice a bell that can’t be unrung “Would you rather be drowning with others, or swimming alone?”

“The water is nickel gray / Lowering clouds and the gift of a new day / Who should we tell? / Who would believe us?”