Disabled Woman Swimming. Poem by Miki Byrne

Disabled Woman Swimming.


She moves with aching slowness.
Feet tender upon textured tiles.
reaches the pool’s edge.
She does not dive.

Can’t throw herself in,
Or prayer- point her hands and cleave
The water like a blade.
She does not even jump and strike

The surface like a barrel. She steps
Slowly down the ladder. Backwards.
twisted fingers tightly clutch cold
Steel rails. She shivers as water rises

Chills her calves’ inch by slow inch. Creeps
Higher still, until she stands waist deep.
Then she ducks. Feels water sluice
Over shoulders and head.

She pushes off the tiled wall with
scarred feet, takes a breath through
Damaged lungs, stretches the shoulder
That was repaired and swims.

She is released from gravity and weight.
From aches and pains and enveloped in
The euphoria of buoyancy, regains flexibility
And speed denied her in the dry world.