Swimmer
The kiss kiss kiss of the boats in the water
was all I could hear. When he went
it was quick. Sometimes he dived under,
sometimes he trod water and when
he came up for air his head was glossy black.
At each boat he stopped to rest, lifting
his arms and chest out of the water
but never looking back to the lights
and the laughter. I could see him clearly,
the rise and fall of his shoulders, the nod
and dip of the boats. He didn’t turn
so he didn’t see me, standing in the shadows,
fists clenched, biting my lip to stop
from crying out. I wanted him to find
his way home, to crawl on the stony strip
of shore as the tide retreated and left him behind,
the boats lying like dead things with the finality
of it all, him still alive but wrung out,
and then I could help him, half-carry him,
the sea that clung to him clinging to my clothes
and everything tasting of salt.
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Kim Moore lives in Cumbria and works as a Peripatetic Brass Teacher. She won an Eric Gregory Award and the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2011 and in 2012 her pamphlet ‘If We Could Speak Like Wolves‘ was a winner in the Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition, judged by Carol Ann Duffy. The pamphlet will be published in May 2012. She has also had poems published in The TLS, Poetry Review, Poetry London, Magma, The North, Ambit and The Rialto and her reviews have been published in Poetry Review, Mslexia, Staple and The Cadaverine.
Abegail Morley 
Lovely choice Abegail. I’m a great fan of Kim’s poetry. I think she’s got a brilliant future.
This is a superb poem – I have read it a number of times and what a journey she takes the reader on. I love the first person voice – the watcher. It took me back to the first time I ‘watched’ through my fingers my daughter doing a first show jumping circuit. Swimmer really touched a chord – the letting go and yet wanting to hang on and keep someone safe. And the exhilarating sense of freedom and adventure. Thanks for a wonderful read – I shall find more of your work Kim. Thanks Abegail for posting and introducing.
I think Kim is one to watch, I’m very interested in her work since seeing her at a reading recently. I think this is wonderful. Thank you Abegail!
I enjoyed this poem very much. I could see it, hear it and feel it. Suspenseful. Very satisfying ending. I also went to the link and read the wonderful wolf poem!