MPBN is partnering with the Telling Room in Portland in August to highlight the work of young writers. Here's "Swimming Lessons in the Desert" by Madeleine Scholz-Lague.
The hot summer sun
is shaded over by the maternity pool,
but not the grownup pool.
The grownup pool has a plastic waterfall in the corner,
and is too deep for my feet to touch.
The concrete
that surrounds the grownup pool
pokes into my little thighs.
The grownup pool is where I am learning
to swim.
Instructors take turns
putting their arms around my waist
to let me use them for support.
Without warning one pulls me under!
Water fills my nostrils
and panic is in my chest.
Under, water is blue
and chlorine stings my eyes.
Time underwater goes slower.
At the end of practice
I grab a Dum-Dum.
The mystery candy mixes with the sour flavor of fear
and tastes like paint.
Madeleine Scholz-Lague is an 18-year-old writer from Gorham. She wrote this autobiographical poem about the horrors of first learning to swim in a pool in the Arizona desert. This piece is read by Telling Room student Madolyn Connolly.