If You Dive Into the Pool

If you dive into the pool

You'll look brave

To all your friends

They'll reconsider

Their opinion of you

As a stuffed-up

Stuffy

Stuffing-fall-out-of-him

Stuffed bear

That bears no resemblance

To the boy they played

Night Tag with

Every night last summer

But last summer was before

Dad moved out

During a Night Tag game

The taillights causing you
To see shadows of your friends
Hiding behind trees
And trash cans

You wondering
What you knew
Before you wondered about it

Mom, a fixture in the window
Like a Christmas
Or a Halloween decoration

Meant to scare
Meant to comfort

Disappearing

If you dive into the pool
You'll cleanse

Because water cleanses
Because poetry says so
Because it cools you
Because it's flexible
Because it's fluid
Because it teaches us to fluctuate

You will be cleansed

You will go in the pool
And come out of the pool
A different person
With a different worldview

You will be baptized
And therefore saved

The old you will fall off you
Like the excess water
That falls onto the asphalt
And the towels
Positioned around the water

If you dive into the pool
You'll see shapes under the water
Monsters, seaweed
Deflated pool toys
Coral reefs
Toothless sharks
Surfboards
Mermaids
A woman named Mariella
With a small dog and an umbrella

You'll stroll, not swim
Wondering when you're going to run out of breath
Wondering when you're going to need to go up
Wondering when fall will arrive
Bringing cold air
Down to the bottom of the pool
Turning it into ice

And could it be nice?

To be frozen in place

Not available for comment
Or concern
Until another summer
Arrives

If you dive into the pool
You will impress
Impact
Influence others

Nobody would look at you
Little you
And think
Diving was possible

Still sad from a divorce
And a move to a new neighborhood
And an inability to make new friends
At a new school
Where you're not nearly as cool
As you were before

Nobody would look at you
Little you
And imagine you
Soaring through the air
Ready to hit the water
And see what happens

If you dive into the pool
You'll have a moment
Where it's just you

You in the water
And the water
Among the water

In between
Sink
And
Float

And suddenly you'll feel others there
Others who have been impressed
Impacted
Influenced
Inspired

Diving in themselves

To see how it is
With you
In the pool