The Best Time
By Kathryn Holt

We are birds flying
Flying through the water,

I am next.
There is noise behind the block,
People cheering and saying to themselves” I can, I am, I will, I win”

I step up to the block
My competition does the same.

The deck goes silent.
We prepare to begin our flight.

The whistle blows,                             
I stretch my wings,
Take off .                                               

Like birds flying through the air,
The water rushes all around me,
The world melts away,
For a few moments I am free.             

One turn
Then the next,
Then the next,

My flight is coming to an end as I hit the walls.
I kick harder as I reach the flags
I need air,
But I will not breathe again until I finish.

The black cross appears out of nowhere.
I am nearly finished.
One
Two
Three strokes and my hand hits the wall.

My flight is over.
I have landed.

Fit to be Tied
By Kathryn Holt

I sit in a dark corner
Of your closet

I am waiting to be taken
Taken out of the comfortable darkness

I am dreading it                         
Dreading being twisted and turned this way and that

Dreading hanging from your neck                                            
I am dreading it.

I hide in my corner as you come,
Come to select your next victim.

The next of us to be twisted and turned,

To be tied around your neck.

You select one of us,
It is not me.

I am safe for another day,
To hide in the dark corner,
Of your closet.