back to 2009 issue

Spell Against Drowning

Ashley McWaters

The only perfect thing is light, and best
of all myself driving into it headlong.

Let there be a reflection I can live with,
or alongside, at least—a perfect companion,

myself — only faster and in reverse. Let there be
stars and eyes like empty baskets. Let there be

wave after wave—from convertibles, from sidelines,
from televisions, from departing ships. Let there be

a shining penny to guide the dive, neon rings to catch.
Let the flash bring me nearer and not draw me wrong.

I’ll be looking for work to take me under; in the inky dark
or the juicy pool-blue I’ll lose myself looking, forgoing

the surface, a stone. That glass will have a great throat
and no memory, be all riddle. Therefore the crumbs

I left to float. Therefore the weighted paper on the shore.
Therefore the fishing line, the helium balloon, the buoy.

Some nights, it will take a party and searchlight to find me:
See, there I am waving from a great height. And there:

the tiny splash it took me years to master.