By Zane Grenoble, 15-year-old Competitive Swimmer
My friends say 6:15 a.m. swim practice
Is a time better spent sleeping,
Is too cold
blah blah blah…
Other swimmers say 6:15 a.m. swim practice
Is lonely
Is too strenuous,
blah, blah, blah…
My dad doesn’t say anything about 6:15 a.m. practice
Because he is hibernating beneath a blanket
of warmed marshmallows
But when I dive into the water shimmering like fireworks on a winter night
The orange sky weaves its way into my magical daydreams
And composes a soothing melody.
The picturesque sky and tranquil water envelop me,
We are
one
Stroke after stroke
Stroke after stroke
I contemplate alone in the massive pool.
My mind takes a sunrise stroll
It wanders through solitude
And soars across the peach heavens.
Every kick
Propels me through the candied water
And my body glides through the fragile water
effortlessly like a swan waltzing on ice.
While exhaustion piles into my brick legs,
The water replenishes me
And can do anything once again.
Birds chirp about hope that fills the air,
the sun greets me with its heartwarming hugs,
the untouched morning dewdrops form into glistening sunshine,
so much for their blah, blah, blah…
About the Author: Zane Grenoble swims for the Bruin Swim Club in Los Angeles. His specialty is long distance freestyle and this spring will be his first season on the Harvard Westlake H.S. swim team.
Adam Epstein is that your pic??
That would be awesome, but no haha
Great poem. If this kid swims as well as he writes, we could have a Poet Laureate who’s also an Olympian someday.