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.