SUMAC

I say no, I never learned.

He says best form of exercise, swimming

When you come to visit I throw you in water,

big water, you know, lake, yes lake,

again & again until you learn

to stay above water, keep body above water.

No, uh, float, yes, float!

I ask When’d you learn to swim?

He says in the Old Country, in Baghdad, when I was twelve

we moved to new house by Tigris, you know river,

it was first time I had seen water

like that, I saw people swim, I know I have to learn

so I keep trying until I learn. I swim

so well I cross whole river. At thirteen or fourteen I build boat.

I ask How’d you build a boat?

He says oh easy, just metal sheet, four by eight feet & put

nails & put wood & put four gallon tank in back

so would not go down, go below water, you know,

so it would float, yes float! If you have chance

you should learn to swim, never know

when you might need, never know when

you might drown.

On the phone I tell mama. You’ve never heard that story

before? Oh nana worried, said she thought

he would drown. She thought he was so stupid,

thought he’d disappear downstream & wash up

dead on the banks. He tried to teach me

when we lived in Greece,

I was afraid of the sea.

But on a pier he tossed me in. Flailing I thought

I was going to drown. I swallowed salt water til it became

glass in my eyes & in my lungs. His friend told us how he’d

swallowed olive oil to keep from starving, he said

it didn’t stop the hunger though. I took one breath, it didn’t

stop the drowning though.

I ask So did it work, did you learn to swim?

No, his friend jumped in, can’t remember exactly. The sea went dark.