By Ellie Mortillaro 

in seventy seconds

 

in my grandma’s swimming pool i
sigh the air from my lungs and
sink down to lie still on
the rough concrete

one two

a leaf above moves with the wind and
the clouds look distorted like
through a bubble
maybe this is how they really are

twenty two twenty three

quiet has a new meaning
it is dense and
time is kept by the beat of the
veins in my head and
the pulse of the air filter

forty six   forty seven

i say a word but
only air comes out
it rises to the top and
breaks the numinosity

sixty one sixty two

what would it be like to stay here forever?

sixty nine  seventy

i always come up for air