Swimming Upriver

Walking outside my small crummy white house, I
Turn and walk up the road, sloshing through concrete.

I swim in a pool of blue water delimited by high
Glass walls. Endlessly around, through the plants and peat,

Within the enclosure, with bubbles all around, my suit
Gets wet. Others swim by, the grocer, the accountant,

The pop star, the unemployed factory worker, all moot;
As far as forward movement -- always hesitant.

Its easy to swim in circles, its easy to grab the wriggling legs that scoot
In front of you, afraid of being forced to recant

The orthodoxy you were born in,
The orthodoxy of the horn-rimmed glasses and the pointed nose.