By Cynthia Gallaher

Photo by T.K. Rex

Swimming Through a Solar Eclipse

Sun, moon and water intersect,

I swim through eclipse totality

in the indoor pool

with full daylight streaming through,

then darkness shades

a gallery of upper windows.

Snakes and swirls

dance on pool’s bottom,

cease for four minutes

while I leisurely freestyle

four lengths of the pool

before sunbeams slither

back brightly, though minutes

earlier, I was outdoors

with the rest of the park goers,

heads titled upward

sporting eclipse glasses

like movie 3-D specs.

Sun’s evolving crescents

imitate the moon’s

month-in-month-out

waxing and waning,

but now takes only seconds

to carve its thinning orange arcs.

I rush inside to skip the grand finale,

with all its outside distractions,

and spread my arms wide on entry,

churn my legs toward the deep end,

to take on pool totality

all to myself.