Sea swimmer

Plunging blind into the brutal ether

jagged, tangential

all-consuming and caressing

a cold I cannot describe

swimming in the direction of emptiness

losing sight of the beach, my clothes, my barking dog, my dry robe, my car keys, my thermos, my love

awake, aware, abandoned, aching, repaired, dismantled

mind thrashing like a spin dryer set on ‘regular/ heavy'

hit by a wave and twisted and plunged and force fed and free and

so alive I cannot dream again

swimming in the direction of me