Why I Love Swimming
Dedicated to the Ladies' Swim Club

Because I can be outside
with hardly anything on
and not have to explain.

Because I can slither and glitter
and the sun warms my back.

Because if I swim in the morning,
I don't have to leave
the shores of dreaming.

Because I am never lonely in the water.

Because if I swim in the afternoon,
I don't sleepwalk
through the rest of my waking hours.

Because my friends swim with me some days,
and we wave as we pass on our kickboards,
and we gossip in the showers.

Because if I swim in the evening,
a blue silence swallows me.

Poems by Lisa Sitkin: