Delmarva Review: Last Swim Class by Pam Crow

Author’s Note: I watched my daughter teach a swim class at the local high school pool and was struck by her combination of beauty and ridiculousness. There is a goodbye that comes after high school for many parents, when we realize things will never be the same. This moment felt like a turning point, and I wanted to capture it.

Last Swim Class

In the shallow end of the swimming pool
children surround my daughter. They climb
onto her shoulders, hang from her arms,
say goodbye to their dripping goddess.
I will not think about her leaving tomorrow
for college. Douglas firs lean into the chain link fence.
Between wind-blown boughs, a glimpse
of turquoise. Summer sun illuminates
waves around her, droplets of water
sparkle in her hair. I smile, give a thumbs-up
from my white plastic chair. Her newborn
spine was a string of pearls beneath my fingers.
One minute she is a painting from centuries past,
illuminated in golden light—the next
a laughing girl in goofy pink sunglasses.
Daughter, you cannot see how brightly you shine.
We push quarters into the rusty soda machine.
Cold bottles clunk into our hands. Let’s take our time,
drink this effervescence as slowly as we can. 

♦ 

Pam Crow is a clinical social worker and award-winning poet who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her work has also been published in Ploughshares, Green Mountain Review, Carolina Quarterly, Southern Poetry Review, and other journals. Her book Inside This House was published by Main Street Rag press in 2008.

The Delmarva Review, in St. Michaels, MD, gives selected writers a desirable home in print (with a digital edition) for their most compelling new prose and poetry to present to discerning audiences everywhere. It exists at a time when many commercial print publications (and literary magazines) were closing their doors or reducing literary content. For each annual edition, the editors have read thousands of submissions to select the best of new poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. About half are from the Delmarva and Chesapeake region. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, support comes from tax-deductible contributions and a grant from Talbot Arts with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. Website: www.DelmarvaReview.org