Existentialist, Swimming forLinda Allen Water’s an -ism. Pr. Linda’s bi-weekly at the pool. Driver’s dependable Abdul. Tiptoes choose: Not to slip on the rim. Then surface smooth, Tense, or in facets — Linda’s in it. She’d taught her class Camus — Not strange to adolescents — Each swore, “That’s what I am too!” I know swimming but hardly philosophy: “Philosophy is underneath how you live and act,” A medium as full as it can muster about you. Philosophy swims funny. At least to me. Does it slosh around, flounder? Is it abstract without geology? What stroke needs to follow another? As a girl she was already free. In inlets, bays. But she could tie its name To what she swam, existential swan-foot. In Marin she designed her own, stone On its floor, river-rock instead of diving board. “You need to be aware that you’re an Existentialist to be one,” Linda makes gin-clear. For me, philosophy adds water-wings. But swimming lifts our weight: Page 42 - Nine Mile Magazine
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