Swimming with sharks
There weren't any, of course
but that didn't stop me from checking behind
The goggles protrude from my face and act like blinkers
so my field of view is limited
I keep expecting one to appear from the side of my mask
Too many movies, maybe
too many bad stories - fact and fiction
Still, swimming, I start to consider my mortality
not my death - my life
I still have so much potential
so many plans and projects - unfulfilled
schemes and stories untold
My collection of ideas and inclinations
All this energy
all stored inside me
would be released and lost
if I am taken by a shark
The more I consider my creative worth
my potential energy
the more it seems the sharks will sense it
Slide in and steal my life
I kick
I am energy
hot in the cold water
So it is not the shark's teeth I feel, when he first bites
It is the heat of myself
From belly to back on my right side
My body will stop moving forward
will be thrown sideways
Kidney and stomach revealed
This part doesn't hurt
but I will look down
see the puff of blood
and his scissor teeth
See my life escaping
My potential lost to the water
stolen by the shark
All my plans and projects
If only I had realised them
released them
That is what I will think
as I watch my self pour out of me
I didn't see any sharks, of course
And back in the boat
only I can sense my potential
only I can realise it
But without the shark trying to release it
I don't know if I will