Hawaiʻi Sonnet 60

Here’s my draft for today, Monday 06.10.19.

Hawaiʻi Sonnet 60

He rarely rested, swam hard all his life
mostly under water, a thick, gooey, heavy water
that would be hard to see through to the end
even with swimmer’s goggles, which he never wore

It was always a difficult push to the finish
to hit the wall, a full labored stroke unmatched
no first-place trophy ever won, ungraspable
each prize just out of range, an unreached shore

I witnessed a building fury that drove his heavy crawl
the type hell hath nothing on, Kekaha body-surfing boy no more
he was forced, none too gladly, to swim as part of a team
even though he believed, core deep, he might race better alone

I saw it every day, in that smoldering Korean laser stare
I carry a memory of his bottled anger with me everywhere