Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Working Towards the Channel. Maybe.



Start here.
Pushing off the wall,
straightening
myself,
already reaching
for the other end,
150 feet away.
I turn to breathe,
looking over my shoulder
to see my arm emerge
from the water,
dripping,
to begin again,
sort of like
the instructions
on a shampoo bottle --
"Rinse. Repeat."
The water is cool,
but feels warmer 
the more I move in it,
enveloping me,
surrounding me,
embracing me,
supporting me,
holding me away from
its own dangers.
It began innocently enough,
about a year ago;
Can I make one length 
of this pool?
This place where Olympic 
champions have churned
records into the waters?
Now, I ask my coach for more.
A hundred meters,
then two hundred, then four,
lately two thousand meters, 
hoping to get strong,
feeling my assurance grow.
Now, along with the miles,
I want to do more, 
to become
ME!
One more lap. 

3 comments:

William Kendall said...

Good artistry, Speedway. And swimming is a great form of exercise.

dive said...

Go, girl.

Great drawing, inspiration words.
When you conquer the Channel I want to be in the support boat.

Speedway said...

Thank you William and Dive for your kind words. I often take pictures of the swimmers at the Nat before I swim myself. My intention is to use them for sketches and drawings like the one here.

And Dive, I will hold you to that. There are years of prep ahead. At least two to three, and that I assume, is for someone who came into training with years of background. I just kinda showed up one day, wanting to swim and, well, everybody's gotta have a goal. Just the work towards achieving it will be worthwhile.