Snorkelingin shallow water,
Knees scrape defiant coral
When I forget to swim.
Tinyfish dart like clattering spoons
Falling from unpracticedhands.
Pinwheeling colors promise themselves
Into memory.
A t-shirtbillows on my back,
Air bubbles resilient against
Pointing rockfingers.
Everything close-up,
I stare unabashedly
behind foggy goggles.
A peripheral slither whips my head,
But it is quickly gone and I spit outseawater
Snuck into my snorkel
In open-mouth shock.
A moment ofdistracted doggie-paddling
Before I look down again and in a
Breath ofinattention the
Sand-rock-shelf-floor
Has fallen off.
Clattering spoonsand pinwheels
Behind me and
Down is suddenly
Deep and deep and deep.
Water and water and water
Not thick enough to
Keep me fromfalling
To the carnivorous blue
Settled ominously on the farawaysand.
Mouth open (again
I will have to spit seawater
Or breatheit)
Body a frightened fist
Somehow I float.