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Wet Work


by Barry Friesen


 For a moment

after my inner tube hit the chunk of telephone pole

embedded just below the river's surface

like a rotting wisdom tooth

after the tube drifted on

leaving me spreadeagled underwater against the pole

immobile in the current's muscular embrace

after I rested there awhile

not breathing

tasting blood in my mouth

mind frantic to surface

to unlock the impossibility

just for a moment

loving the sensation

of being held forever

I thought

oh, why bother?

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