so how come i don’t sink and drown

my brother the engineer explains

in this week's sunday phone call

that my body weighs a little less

than the water it displaces

same way a concrete boat floats

i tell him i don't feel the least bit

like a floating concrete boat

when i'm eye level with the line

between the top edge of the lake

and the bottom of the sky

i feel like a wondrous being

who remembers swimming

before my lungs could even breathe

now on this watery planet 

i float suspended once again

but if it's true that i'm buoyed up

by the water's density and

held down by earth's gravity

then it sure could be his physics

that holds me safe between

Carol Anne Modena