Mona Plummer Haibum
    
                    by Nadine Lockhart


	
	      Rectangular pools of reflected sun; isosceles flags flapping red, yellow, 
        blue; the smell of chlorine—chemical and clean. Men, even in their seventies, 
        sporting Speedos, goggles, flipper fins, somersaulting like dolphins at the end of 
        each lap; a giant timer counting down in digital neon like an overlord to the bull-
        horned guard.

		        Archetypal need
		        Water in the desert, split
		        Lanes into seconds.