DISCOVERING MY OWN DIVINITY IN THE SWIMMING POOL - Savannah Jones
Summer has returned and with it I am
reborn
a minor god whose followers believe
again I am jumping into the pool
boundless
time slowing as gravity finds me and holds
me close
the water’s chill sending a
shock down my spine my nose stinging
Who do I want to be?
the floor of the pool is right below my
belly
I glide above it still
weightless
Who can I be?
I have often heard the sharp shrill of the
lifeguard’s whistle chastising
me for
floating
face down too long a living dead
girl longing to be resuscitated
a girl that people watch
closely reach to touch warm hands
on her cold skin making her believe
a life is possible
and the bottom of the pool hasn’t caught
me yet
"One of my favorite things about summer is the poetry that emerges from it. I have always loved imagery and motifs that include water, sunshine, heat, sweat, blossoming, etc—all things that are prominent in works inspired by the summer months. As I entered my late teens and, now, my twenties, I found myself longing for the seemingly endless youth I remembered from past summers, when I was young and unaware of the world. I have found that few things capture the nostalgia and longing for youth in the way works inspired by summer do. I often find myself scrolling tumblr, finding post after post related to summer childhood nostalgia—poems by Chen Chen and Hanif Adburraqib (among many others), photographs of melting popsicles, artwork of days spent lazing by a river, and much more. All of this is to say, I was yearning for a poem related to summer and childhood. I found myself thinking back to pool parties and summer camps, and eventually ended up with “DISCOVERING MY OWN DIVINITY IN THE SWIMMING POOL,” an amalgamation of a yearning for childhood summers amidst finding my own identity as a twenty year old who is a part of multiple marginalized identities and has often felt ostracized and unwanted." -- notes from the artist
SAVANNAH JONES (she/her) is a German-American college student majoring in Sociology and English Writing. She loves her cat Lily, theatre, and music. In her free time, she can be found spending time with friends, writing, or attempting to make her way through an ever-growing pile of books. Her work has previously appeared in Hot Pot Magazine, Furman University’s The Echo, and All Existing Magazine.