1.
Being the slowest
swimmer of the group I had been given a ten minute start
Then I would not be left
alone in the sea too far behind the rest of them
Somebody to sight on and
hunt down, when they came to depart
I felt like a flower
selected for a buttonhole, snapped off at the stem
2.
Dropped off on the beach
with my friend Christine as timekeeper
My husband, our coach, stayed with his flock
to park and prepare
Stepping painfully on
the pebbles I slipped in slowly never the leaper
As the sea raised me
gently off my feet I offer up a silent prayer
3.
The temperature felt
considerably colder than the previous week
The current, taking its
usual high tide swirl back along the shore
Toward the river Arun , England
The tow would be with me but the wind would
not, that was just sod’s law
4.
The wind was directly
from the west and causing a bit of a swell
Strangely for a dull day
a large umbrella and small beach camp there
An angling event from
the beach, one per breakwater far as I could tell
I headed further out for safety not wanting
fish hooks in my hair
5.
I got into a nice rhythm
fairly quickly and settled in for the task in hand
At the best of times,
even in still water I rarely swim a straight line
With big waves and a washing machine action
swirling up the sand
I stick my head down and
swim for twenty strokes and check I’m fine
6.
Each time I found I heading
off diagonally to the French coast
Having to straighten up and
try to keep in line with the shore.
I breathing to my left
means that I was looking to sea for the most
Honestly at my worse that
day trying to a straight course to claw
7.
I have another reason to
swim somewhat further out from the waters edge
I hate swimming over the
submerged breakwater underneath
A huge barnacled monster
reaching up for me or so it seems I pledge
After all my swimming
years it makes me jump, I should just bar my teeth
8.
An imagination like mine
can spin off like a children’s spinning trick
So a line just a bit further
out takes those things out of view
“You’ll
smell land where there’ll be no land”, from Moby Dick
That thought run through
my head started images anew
9.
I am not afraid of the sea,
or the feeling of the power of the water.
The feeling that I am
very small in a great, swirling, heaving mass
On the top of the wave I am a scrap of seaweed
like Neptune ’s daughter
A powerless feeling of
being washed around, held and dropped alas
10.
There were a few
seagulls around, flying just overhead, quite low,
Maybe they were curious, eyed me with eyes
brighter not duller
The sky was overcast but
occasionally the slightest sunshine would show
Instantly turned the
sand laden waters a startling bright golden colour
11.
Concentrate I told
myself, think of the stroke don’t wander
Swimming for what felt
like twenty minutes eight groynes slowly past
Visualise now don’t
allow drift off, it a long way to the end
Stick with it now, dig
in, or never make it to the last
12.
Think of the rhythm
settle down in a smooth rolling pace
By the shore of Gitchie Gumee
By the
shining Big-Sea-Water, then pick up a working
pace
With mental metronome
beating Hiawatha sparks a flare
13.
I am Hiawatha’s canoe,
my hands and arms the paddles place
Thou the
wild flower of the forest, so far along I swim on
again
Thou the
wild bird of the prairie, the poem make’s a warming
pace
Now swim to the rhythm
of the words softer strokes I fain
14.
Soon my friends one by
one started to pass, gone my reverie
A shocking pink hat forging
ahead, two more and then
My husband managed to
swim right over me, gouging me
Between me and the waves
ending on the beach again
15.
I plodded on trying to
keep up a slightly faster cadence so
As to keep my body
temperature from dropping too much.
Once you start to get
cold it can affect your stroke you know
Quite significantly your
pace will get slower and shorten your touch
16.
Having been passed by
the main group I settled back into my work,
Enjoying being alone in the somewhat lumpy,
slappy sea.
The movement of the
water is hypnotic and dangers do lurk
Sheer pleasure of the
movement tears my concentration from me
17.
I took the time instead
to turn my thoughts the job in hand
With ineffective work,
core temperature will gradually drop,
Preceding hypothermia,
so plan where the hand should land
For cold before you know
it can force you to stop
18.
Most of the gulls had
peeled of and flown trailing away
All but one who stayed
with me, flying close enough to feel
Hovering on the headwind
hoping marine life on the way
My movements might provide
him with a handy meal
19.
The waves were rolling
in almost head on dashing on each batch
I had took a more than a
few mouthfuls of the salty sea
I told myself, ‘think
about the stroke girl make that catch’
Stretch out, pull it
back and push the hand away behind me.
20.
The seagull was still
with me and our eyes firmly met
When I made a big long
axis body roll to see his position
He swooped down and
gently touched my finger, no bite yet
My arm moved during my
stroke recovery, he though I was nutrition
21.
Reflections in a golden eye, a very close very
golden eye
It did not seem to be
aggressive but maybe it was a missed peck
I turned over onto my
back as if to pose the question why
I swear he shrugged his
shoulders with the slightest crick of neck
22.
Ignoring my new friend
or enemy which ever was the case here
I swam on looking at the
sea and sky above to my left
This was becoming a
weird swim then I began to fear
The clouds are joining
in the fun, forming a strange cleft
23.
Heavy rain clouds were
drifting along on a plain so high
The sky had dramatically
darkened perhaps a storm was due
Images in clouds, here in a cauliflower cloud a
huge crisp almond eye
With the rain clouds
ahead it seemed strange to see that patch of blue
24.
The clear blue space in
the cloud was distinct, an eye, plain to see
Centrally a small white fluffy cloud forming
the iris of my eye
I smiled at the thought
of someone up there watching out for me.
I am not averse to a bit
of spirituality and felt a calming sigh
25.
Having wandered off mentally
I set back into getting this long hard swim done
All the coloured beach
huts on the shoreline had unnoticed passed
I was closing on the
first basket and could make out the next one
Nibbled away at the course breakwaters close
to the end at last
26.
A line of sea baskets
would make navigation easier but still not to shirk
I kept an eye on the big eye as it focused peacefully
on me
I always thought of
myself as a pretty unsinkable a buoyant piece of work
Not afraid of the current and to fight it a
fool you’d surely be
27.
I went on trying to
settle my breathing down making sure to fully exhale
You can’t breathe in a
full lung capacity of fresh air
If you have not exhaled
all the stale used air first, my fingers looked pale
Calm down; relax give
myself to the water I was almost there
28.
Relaxing for the last
part, swim toward shore beneath that heavenly eye
Flat in the water no
aches or pains but happy to have ended this test
At last the swim is at
an end the cloudy eye closed and passed on by
Undeterred by seagulls that
had been such a pest, now away to their nest
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