And I do not mean
that my mother spoke in thee and thou
or that my father was an exegete; my
mother was a twice immigrant and my
father was dead.
Swim out? my mother said.
You?
The swimming
I did
I did it
for you only.
What else can I say? my father said.
It was the rain
that stank on them,
the rain or my affection
for the biblically inflected:
thou shalt not be
also my father
also my mother
also the torrent
also the rest of it.
—Netanel Schwartz