harpoon by Jonathan Pettit

I should have practiced drowning.

My love, it was as though I froze
from the outside in, and inside still
tumbling, still mumbling,
yes, something out of a book.

 I should have practiced drowning.

I would have known the bite of the hook
in my cheek, a spitting wince I can’t describe,
the unwelcomeness of gravity, the spinning
of the world, my open eyes.

I should have practiced drowning.

I promise you I would have learned
to unfold myself in the water,
to pull the face up from the knees,
to wrench the elbows back,
extend, unfist, unwrap the skin,
unstitch the itching flesh,

to darken the water as I dissolve,
unravel the ropes in my gut,
let you count the knots, name them.

I should have practiced drowning
so I would know what to do,
when there I saw you,
there I saw you

holding her like a harpoon.