Swimming

It's a long way from the forest to the beach.
The light fades from the day
and the trees darken, branches blackening
and clattering against skinny arms.
I run from the forest to the beach
And trip over most of the way.

The hush of the sea pulls me ever forward
and I can see her small silhouette ahead of me,
running faster and faster
away.

(My mother was married to a sergeant in the army,
till he shot her in the heart)

The owls are awake.
The air is sickly humid
though the day has passed.
I am bitten by little black flies and
twigs and leaves get caught in my hair.

It's a long way from the forest to the beach.

I will catch up with her
but at the moment she's too quick.
She looks behind at me
and the moon catches the whites of her eyes
and she looks a little mad.

She is smiling.
She is looking at me.
She is my mother.
She was my monster.

Now she runs from me and I can't keep up.

(The sun bursts red into a polluted sea
and I'm pulled away from her as she swims away)

I've made it from the forest to the beach
And stand stranded as my mother moves through the water
Away from me.

I never learnt how to swim.