i am floating
it’s weightlessness
outer space
i am expelled from a shuttle and fall with wingéd grace through
an orbit
and i can see the stars below
they tinkle across the surface of the atmosphere i am about to enter
mere moments before i descend into it
the air grows cool
everything dons blue sunglasses
and i penetrate that concrete membrane with pointed toes above hiking sandals
they knife the surface
and grant me passage
quarry water is a gentle lukewarm like water left in the shade of a hot day
it’s wet water from the algae
and it embraces me, 25 feet down, drilled from my pencil dive, like a womb
i stay there for a few moments
where time is measured in ripples
and in the length of the gauze of light that breaks through from the world above
i remember that i am a person
and i surface
and climb a pile of rubble through rocks
climb 50 feet up, a shortcut to the top again
my back is patted
the boy who gave me his beer sets it down
says watch this
then does a gainer
from 85 feet up