The trick to breathing under water,

They say,

Is to fool the brain into fooling

The lungs.

To measure out synapses in minutes

And knots.

If you spend enough time underneath

I think,

The water gets to be invisible

And clear,

And time slows down like glacier melt.

I want

The ability to make things stop

Like that

Whenever I choose, whenever I please

And not

Only when I get so close to drowning.

Heartbeat

Gets loud rambunctious and angry.

The times

I’ve had all blur together and the water

Clouds up.