Don’t Dust It Off (The high dive as a Metaphor)

She liked diving because falling
was the only thing that ever made her
feel better,

and the blue jackets the team wore
matched her eyes and made her
dark hair even darker.

Getting out of the house all summer
and climbing up the metal ladder
to the highest board was the opposite
of emptiness.

They all got better being ruthless
about exposing rancid habits
that kept splashes high
and points lost in the wastebasket.

No one from that program would ever
see a championship in anything.

The different eras would all disperse
into their futures and forget how
clear the water looked from way up there
where the best way down was forward,
and no one watching stood a chance
of understanding.

The high dive as a metaphor
is a dead horse
in the desert with the sunlight
and the sandy wind
consuming it.

Don’t dust it off
just let it
be forgotten.