When I was six years old,

my brother and my cousins

tried to teach me how to swim.

They did this by throwing me into a pool.

Immediately, my arms became two skinny

brown flailing distress signals.

I think I heard my brother say,

"If he dies, I'm going to be in so much trouble."

I remember them pulling me from the jaws

of the liquid beast before it could devour me whole.

That was the day I almost lost my life.

To anyone brave enough to love me,

Do you know the human body is approximately

sixty percent water? When I walk into a room

full of people, all I see is an ocean.