David Adès
Drowning
I burst through my own momentum into
rapids sight obscured by spray darkening
sky angled into vertigo water closing in
heavy fingered pressure threatening to sink
me waterlogged to the deep on one
indifferent hammer strike of stone.
My heart races all night beyond sleep adrenalin
yields to fatigue I catch myself breathing
still it takes a long time to drown.
David Adès is an Australian poet now living in Pittsburgh. He has been a member of Friendly Street Poets since 1979. His poetry collection Mapping the World was commended for the Fellowship of Australian Writers Anne Elder Award 2008. His poems have appeared widely in many Australian and (more recently) American publications and have appeared recently or are forthcoming in 5 AM, Blue Pepper, Boston Literary Review, Cordite Poetry Review, Four and Twenty, Illya’s Honey, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Poetica, Red River Review, San Pedro River Review, Spiritus and The Fourth River.