Diving

It is a quick deep dive into the past.

Clean. Holding a dusty scrapbook

full of yellowed newspaper clippings,

I find myself at fires, large and

small, dancing at a prom in 1940,

attending a trade show in New York.

A second dive goes deeper, finding

my own self, a fast slide along

stainless steel, past ranch houses

bearing forgotten names: Aucoin,

O’Donnell, Topham, Vanlandingham,

Tielli, McClendon, McKinney,

Martinez, Vienne, Jackson, Cupit,

Brown, McMinn, Nelson, Rebaldo,

Beelman, Magruder, all the names

crowding thick, obituary leaves

caught in the wind. A third dive

pushes deeper, into classrooms

and teachers smiling, more names

thrusting themselves in my face,

streets named for friends, flowers,

heroes and states. This dive touches

bottom, touching the darkest depth as

I break the surface into the sunlight.

Photograph by Petr Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.