Reader Submission: 50 yard Freestyle

PHOENIX, Arizona, December 21. FROM time-to-time, readers will submit creative works related to swimming to SwimmingWorldMagazine.com. The latest submission comes from Janet Scognamiglio of Saddle River, N.J., in a poem entitled 50 yard Freestyle

My mom comes to every one of my swim meets.
Sits four hours on rippled, metal bleachers,
Suffocates in the heavy, recycled air,
Sweat stains the armholes of her shirt,
Sweat slithers down her spine, down her thigh,
Sweat collects in the creases of her bra and underwear.
People think she's crazy, all that for a race so fast
She barely has time to turn on the camera.

But in those twenty-four seconds,
She sees in the reflection of the water
Her daughter sleeping, head sunk into the pillow,
Hair surrounding her like an angel's glow,
As she gently shakes her awake, whispering, "Time to get up."

In the white foam that trails her daughter's feet,
She sees a girl,
Palms plastered against the wall,
Heels planted on the ground
One leg in front, one leg in back,
Wincing in pain.

With each crisp stroke,
She sees her daughter,
On the balls of her feet, palms flat on the ground, back straight
Pumping out push-ups to the beat of Backstreet Boys.

As her daughter nears the first wall,
She sees the hours of streamlines,
Hours of flipturns,

And as her daughter nears the touchpad,
She sees the quote,
Posted on her locker,
‘If you have a lane, you have a chance.'

And when she turns to the scoreboard,
And sees the seconds next to her daughter's lane,
She sees her daughter's dreams unfolding,
Before her very eyes.

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