published in her book, The Dead Behind Us (1986, Norton)
I learned to be honest
the way I learned to swim
dropped into the inevitable
my father's thumbs in my hairless armpits
about to give way
I am trying
to surface carefully
remembering
the water's shadow-legged musk
cannons of salt exploding
my nostril's rage
and for years
my powerful breast stroke
was a declaration of war.
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