About Catherine Anderson

Catherine Anderson was born in Detroit, Michigan, the eldest of three. She lived for over twenty-two years in the Boston area where she worked as a teacher, community journalist and advocate for immigrant rights. She now lives in Kansas City where she has worked for two decades assisting new immigrants in the skill of spoken language interpreting. She has published widely in journals such as the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, the Dunes Review, the Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine and many others. Her poetry has been recognized by the Southern Humanities Review, the I-70 Review and the Crab Orchard Review. Her memoir, about her late brother Charlie, My Brother Speaks in Dreams: of Beauty, Family & Belonging was a finalist for the Montaigne Medal (Eric Hoffer awards).

Afloat

Easy to imagine the one you love

as a child—flushed skin, bright

hair, so like water running

through your fingers, eyes

agleam in their glance toward you.

This lover has your full attention,

the story about to begin, your hand

tracing the forehead, the soft plum

of a cheek, the beloved known

as only the beloved is known.

After “the pond,” “box turtle,”

“those guys,” your lover’s eyes settle

on a bedroom window frame,

a smudge on the ceiling, the eyes

of a child at rest within the story,

the long exhaled breath of it.

The story will continue but now

a breath it must take, your lover’s mind

floating on its back in the pond, your lover

silent for a moment, arms spread wide

like a T, attempting the back float,

the technique that could save a life,

what every child learns first, reverent

in the positioning: face up, ears and hair

submerged in small tides of the water,

the swimmer taking careful breaths

with you, spotter and listener.

The one you love rests on the water’s

skin, eyes shut, then open, the child

you see in that face, your lover

who will never drown.

Published in the I-70 Review, 2024

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